


The Crow’s Den

by StrawberryRiceCake



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cabaret, Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Cabarets, Coffee Shops, Everyone Is Gay, Fluff, Kuroo is Bi, M/M, Tsukishima doesn't know what love is, Yamaguchi is baby
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:47:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26042191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StrawberryRiceCake/pseuds/StrawberryRiceCake
Summary: Tsukishima is a normal college student and a normal barista who just wants to get through the day. He notices a new customer coming into his work, a freckled man that seems like he never sleeps and always is covered in glitter. Tsukishima hopes to never see him again, but finds out he actually goes to the same college as him. Now they have to complete a final together, but they just can't see eye to eye about it. Tsukishima just wants this to quietly pass him by so he can get back to his normal everyday life. However, this freckled kid flips Tsukishima's world completely upside down when the blond finds out he actually works at a cabaret.
Relationships: Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou, Hinata Shouyou/Kageyama Tobio, Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru, Kozume Kenma/Kuroo Tetsurou, Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 18
Kudos: 107





	1. The Music Major meets the Dance Major

A ringing noise fills the room and a pale hand reaches out to slap the big button on top of the alarm clock. The blond man opens his eyes slowly as sunlight barely comes through the blinds. Much to his dismay, he lifts himself up and turns to check the time.

5:00 am. 

He sighs before throwing his covers off and walking a short distance to his bathroom to get ready for the day. 

He connects his phone to his bluetooth speaker that is suction cupped to his shower wall. He scrolls through Spotify and clicks on his favorite album. Music begins to echo throughout the bathroom and the blond turns on his shower. He places his clothes in the laundry basket before stepping into the water and cleaning himself.

Tsukishima’s life is full of music. It’s his major in college after all but it’s also his hobby. Listening to music, playing instruments, studying sheet music. The only things he can’t do are sing and dance, but he doesn’t mind that. 

Stepping out the shower, he reaches out and switches his phone over to the speaker in the main room. He grabs a smaller towel and begins to rub the moisture out of his hair as he walks out of the bathroom.

His apartment is small, but comfortable. It’s one room with a small kitchen on one side and his bedroom on the other. The door to his bathroom is in between the two sides. There’s barely enough room for a table, so he as a small pullout table under his bed that he uses to do homework and eat his meals. He has a bookshelf filled with various books and text books on music and CDs and records from various artists. His bed frame has a small shelf connected to it where he keeps his alarm clock, a few figurine dinosaurs, and a picture of him and his brother (his brother actually put it there one day when he came over). Tsukishima always makes sure to keep his space clean and organized.

This is how most of his mornings start. He gets up at the crack of dawn, plays music as he gets ready, plays music as he cooks breakfast, and plays music as he eats breakfast, and plays music as he looks over some homework before finally going out the door to his job.

Tsukishima walks a little before reaching the bus stop. He checks the time on his watch.

5:43 am. 

He sighs and adjusts his backpack on his back. He’d usually sit down to wait for the bus but a woman is taking up the bench and he doesn’t want to seem like a creep and sit next to her. He watches the sky shift into different colors as the sunrises. 

The bus pulls up and he finds a spot in the middle of the bus to sit alone. He puts his headphones on a begins to play upbeat music to try and wake him up a little before work.

A few minutes pass by, maybe three songs worth, and the bus stops. Tsukishima stands up and gets off, still listening to his music. He walks down the street and turns the corner to reach a familiar coffee shop. Standing in front of it is a familiar black haired man. 

Tsukishima groans. It’s his least favorite co-worker.

Without a word, Tsukishima walls up to the glass doors and unlocks them with the key. 

“Good morning to you too.” Tsukishima can slightly hear the blue eyed man grumble while music is still blaring through his headphones. 

The two walk in to the back room, get changed and put their belongings into their lockers, and begin to get ready for opening. 

Tsukishima checks the time as they finish setting up.

6:29 am. 

The blond walks over before turning the closed sign around to say “open” and unlocks the front doors. He then mentally prepares himself for his shift.

The regulars come in ordering their regular order and greeting the two in a regular fashion. A few new costumers come in too but it’s not many. All people who look regular.

It’s only about an hour into his shift when someone who catches his eye enters the shop. 

He’s got shaggy black hair that comes down in his face. He’s a little shorter than the blond but not by too much and his face is covered in freckles. As the man curiously walks up to the counter, Tsukishima can get a better look at his face. 

The man is some what attractive, but in the way that others would call “unconventional”. He can tell that he didn’t get much sleep due to his dark circles, yet he seems to be in a good mood. The freckled man walks up to the counter with a smile on his face. 

“Hello, how can I help you?” Tsukishima says as an automated response. 

“Hmmm... I just don’t know what to decide on. I just need something that will keep me going throughout the day! Do you have anything for that?” The freckled man says with a grin on his face. 

Tsukishima gets a weird vibe from this guy. He’s got dark circles under his eyes but it also looks like there’s some remains of eyeliner that is smudged because it wasn’t taken off properly. His freckles are abundant but he also sees a gleam across his face that looks like... glitter? But above all, this guy is too cheery this early in the morning and it’s off putting to the blond.

“I would recommend the espresso if you’re looking to wake up, although it is high in caffeine.” Tsukishima replies without changing his stoic expression.

The freckled man gives him a heart warming smile. 

“I’ll go with that then!” 

Tsukishima inputs his order into the machine and says, “that will be $2.62. What’s the name for the order?”

“Yamaguchi.” The freckled man says, inserting his card in the machine. 

Tsukishima gets started on his order as Yamaguchi goes to the other end of the counter to wait. 

The blond just wants this guy out of here as soon as possible. He quickly makes the espresso, says “for Yamaguchi” as he places the cup in the pick up area, and watches the man pick up his drink and reply with a sweet toned “thank you” before walking out the door. 

Tsukishima grimaces, hoping he won’t see him again. 

“What was that about?” His least favorite co-worker asks, noticing the awkward look on his face. 

“What?” Tsukshima looks away, as if he’s waiting for another costumer to come in.

“You had a problem with that guy right? Why?” 

“What are you talking about, King? You think you know everything?” Tsukishima clicks his tongue at him.

“Don’t call me that!” The black haired man shouts angrily. 

“Yeah yeah whatever.” Tsukishima says as a regular walks through the door. 

***

The blond unbuttons his black dress shirt before folding it and placing it into his back pack. It’s about 12:30 pm and he just clocked out and getting ready to go to his first class of the day. 

Kageyama, his least favorite co-worker, clocked out earlier since he had a shorter shift than him. Sugawara came in to work when Kageyama clocked out and now Nishinoya is coming into work as Tsukishima clocks out. 

Tsukishima puts on a light blue t-shirt with a small print of a stegosaurus on it that his brother gave him for his birthday. He keeps on his black jeans that he has to wear for work since he doesn’t really like changing his pants anywhere other than his own house. He also keeps on his black sneakers that he also has to wear for his work since he thinks it’s inefficient to bring an extra pair of shoes (Asahi does it but that’s only bc he’s into fashion. Tsukishima doesn’t get it.)

The blond picks up his backpack and walks out of the back room. 

“Have a good day!” Sugawara calls to him as he walks out the front doors of the shop. Tsukishima raises his hand casually before pushing open the doors and walking to the bus stop again.

He puts his clunckly white headphones over his ears to listen to music as he takes the bus to school. He absentmindedly looks out the windows, watching building after building go by. The bus has a few more stops before reaching his school. 

The bus comes to a stop in front of some rundown buildings. Some people get on and take their seat. Tsukishima glances and sees a declining set of stairs with a sign above it that says “The Crow’s Den” and scoffs. He can only imagine what kind of place that is in this neighborhood. Suddenly, a guy with orange hair comes running up those steps, his hand outstretched so the bus drive would wait for him. The guy hops onto the bus, yells “sorry!” while panting and out of breath before taking his seat right in front of Tsukishima. 

His hair had glitter in it (what’s up with everyone having glitter on them today?) and he could smell a strong scent of vanilla coming from the short guy. He has a backpack with him and is dressed casually but Tsukishima still can’t understand why he’d be coming out of a place like that if he’s a student. For the second time today, Tsukishima has had an encounter with someone who is off putting and who he never wants to see again.

When the bus stops at the school, the orange hair kid hops up, patters off and runs to the campus as if he’s going to be late for class. The blond rolls his eyes and trudges off the bus.

Music still playing from his headphones he walks through the campus. 

It’s a pretty campus, he has to admit. Trees almost everywhere with large sections of grass that people love to sit on. Some people bring their hammocks and set them up on campus while others bring large blankets to sit on the grass. Others use the picnic tables close by. There are some flower beds and a koi pond near the science building that people love to visit. Tsukishima’s never actually seen it but he’s heard a lot about it from his classmates. 

Tsukishima takes his time walking to the math building and walking up the steps into his class. He chooses a seat in the back since he’s the first one there and takes out his notebook, textbook, and a pencil. He leans back in his chair listening to music as he scrolls through Instagram. More people begin to show up for class and the blond almost jumps out of his seat when he feels a hard smack to his back. 

He deadpans and turns around, already knowing who it is. 

A man with messy black hair and red flannel looks down at him.

“Good afternoon, four eyes!” He grins and takes his seat next to him.

“Hello Kuroo.” Tsukishima says monotone. He looks up to see the professor walking in so he turns off his music and puts his headphones in his backpack.

“How was work this morning?” Kuroo asks, getting his stuff ready. Even though Kuroo seemed like the type of guy to always go to parties and not care about his education, he was actually quite the opposite. He still loves to party and get fucked up, but his education and business major always came first to him and he is actually one of the top students in the school.

His best friend on the other hand was a completely different story. 

The white and black haired man rushes into the class about 10 minutes late as the professor is explaining an equation. Everyone turns to look at him before turning back to the professor. The man, out of breath, plops down next to Kuroo and takes out a random sheet of paper and a pen from his backpack.

“Hey guys! What did I miss?” Bokuto loudly whispers. Bokuto, a sports education major and the ace of the school’s volleyball team, seemed like the only way he got into this school was because of the sport scholarship. He parties almost every night and almost always shows up late to class. He barely passes the classes he takes but it’s enough to keep him in school and on the team.

“Not much. I’ll give you the notes later.” Kuroo replies. 

The class goes on like any other day. Bokuto and Kuroo passing each other notes and trying to pass notes to Tsukishima and Tsukishima ignoring them and everything they do. Kuroo, some how, still has all the notes from the class, even if he gets distracted by Bokuto. Bokuto’s piece of paper is completely blank except for a few doodles on it. Tsukishima - tired and annoyed - packs up his backpack to head to his next class.

“Tsukishima! Tsukishima Kei!” The blond ignores the cries of the volleyball player. 

“Tsukishima! Tsukki!”

The blond shoots a nasty glare to the annoying man. 

“I told you not to call me that. What do you want?” He asks, ready to refuse what ever he is about to say.

“We should go to a club! Oh wait! Some girls at the party last night were talking about a caba- carbar- a dancing club! We should go there!” 

“It’s called a cabaret, Bokuto.” Kuroo chimes in. “And yeah we totally should! You’ll come with us, right Tsukishima?” 

“Not interested.” The blond says, walking away from them, but they are already on his heels. 

“Aw come on man don’t be like that! When was the last time you got out of your small ass apartment, dude? Live a little! We’ll go this Saturday, okay? Then you don’t have to worry about work in the mornings because you don’t work on the weekends, right?” Bokuto gives the blond a mischievous smile and wiggles his eyebrows. 

“I don’t care about dancing or singing. Just leave me out of it. And where’s your backpack?” Tsukishima raises his eyebrow at him.

“Oh shit!” Bokuto makes a sharp turn in the opposite direction and sprints down the hallway back to the math class. Kuroo laughs, still walking beside the blond.

“Hey, blondie. You should really come. All you’ve been doing lately is work and school, and I know you don’t have any other friends besides me and Bokuto.”

“Who decided we are friends?” Tsukishima says, clicking his tongue at him. Kuroo laughs at him.

“Anyway, I know you only have one class on Saturday. Bokuto and I will be there to pick you up. Dress nice, alright?” Without letting him respond, Kuroo takes off in another direction. 

The blond shakes his head and heads into the music building. He walks into an almost empty music room to study for a bit before his class starts. A few people are there, studying as well. 

He puts on his headphones and plays the piece he made last year for his music class. It’s alright but he’s not super proud of it. He’s definitely learned a lot more over the year and he thinks he could make something even better. He takes out his music book and opens his keyboard app. He’d rather use the big piano in the front but he doesn’t want to disturb the other students. He begins to play a few notes, trying to figure what he wants to compose. It’s hard. Incredibly hard. He wonders how people even do this. How do people even come up with pieces, especially pieces that go on for what seems like forever. 

After messing around with the keyboard app for a bit, he checks the time. 

3:55 pm. 

He packs up his empty music book and walks to the music room over. Some of his classmates are already inside and some try to say hi to him. He also sees a few unfamiliar faces. Were they always in this class? He doesn’t think so. Is he in the wrong music room? No, it’s always this music room. More of his classmates and unfamiliar people walk in until the clock hits 4:05 pm and two professors walk through the door.

The recognizes his music professor, Mr. Takeda, but he doesn’t recognize the woman beside him. She has bleach blonde hair cut into a bob with straight across bangs. She’s wearing leggings and a tank top. 

“Hello class!” Takeda speaks up. “I’m sure you’re all wondering what is happening and who all these people are.” Takeda gestures to the group of unfamiliar faces. “Well this semester, me and Ms. Tanaka decided to work together for your final. A student from the music department will be paired up with one of the students from the dance department and you’ll work together to create a piece and a performance! Now I’ll have Ms. Tanaka explain it a little bit more.”

“Please, just call me Saeko! Now, you can create any type of piece you want from any genre but they have to at least go together. So you can’t make a hip hop song and dance ballet to it.” A few of the dance students groans and snicker. “Also, both of you will be working on both parts of the project. Dancers will help the composers with their music and the composers will help the dancers with their performance. The music can be recorded or performed live but the dancing MUST be performed live, got it?” The dance students groan out a “yes Saeko” before she returns to to talking. “You also need to write a two page essay on the type of music and dance you will be performing. Music majors obviously will write about the genre of music while Dance majors will write about the type of dance. Okay I think that covers it! Does anyone have any questions?” The room is quiet. “Awesome! Let’s start pairing you off.” 

Saeko and Takeda began pairing people up and Tsukishima is anything but thrilled. He hates working with people, especially if he doesn’t already know them. 

“Kiyoko and Tanaka!” A girl with long black hair and a guy with a shaved head both raise their hands to find each other.

“Yahaba and Terushima!” Yahaba, a guy he’s spoke to maybe twice, raises his hand and he finds his partner who has a lot of piercings all over his face on the other side of the room.

“Tsukishima and...”

The blond winces at his name, already upset about this whole situation. He’d rather just do a piece by himself. He’d rather work at the coffee shop by himself too. He doesn’t want anyone else’s input on anything. He just wants to be alone. 

“Tsukishima and Yamaguchi!”

Yamaguchi? The name sounds familiar. Oh yeah, that kid from earlier today had that same name. 

Tsukishima raises his hand looks around the room to find his partner. His heart almost stops. 

It’s the kid from earlier today. Standing right in front of him. He looks exactly as he did from this morning, expect more well rested. 

“Hey! You were the coffee shop guy this morning, right? Tsukishima, was it? I’m Yamaguchi!” The freckled man extends his hand. His face is plastered with a bright grin. 

“Yeah.” Is all the blond could say. He reluctantly takes his hand and shakes it.

“So, what type of music are you thinking about? I really like upbeat music but I can adapt!” Yamaguchi says happily. This kid sure has a lot of energy. 

“I usually compose classical.” Tsukishima says. Yamaguchi’s face falls. 

“Oh... well... I don’t really know how else I’d dance to that except for ballet, and I’m not very good at ballet.” Yamaguchi laughs nervously. Tsukishima groans internally. He already hates this. 

“What type of dance are you good at?” Tsukishima asks bluntly.

“I really like jazz! And avant- garde type of dance and music. You know?” Yamaguchi says enthusiastically. His eyes have a shine to them, like he’s remembering something exciting and happy. 

“Well, I don’t know too much about the genre. Can’t you just learn ballet?” Tsukishima asks, annoyed that he can’t just make a dumb classical piece. I mean, how hard could ballet be? He already knows how to dance normally. Tsukishima doesn’t want to have to learn how to make a jazz piece just for this stupid project.

“No, I can’t just ‘learn ballet’ in three weeks. It’s extremely hard! It also wouldn’t be pretty because I’m a man. Usually only women are en pointe and men aren’t, so it wouldn’t even look that good. Especially since I’m not experienced in that area.” Yamaguchi explains. Tsukishima still doesn’t understand.

“Who cares? As long as you pass right?”

“Well I’d also like to have some fun with it! And I’d also want an A, not just a passing grade! We’d definitely fail if I did ballet.” Yamaguchi bites.

“Well, we’d definitely fail if I did jazz.” Tsukishima bites back.

“How do you do you know? It seems like you’ve only written classical pieces! Why not try something different? Expand your horizons. Live a little!”

‘Live a little.’ He can hear Bokuto and Yamaguchi saying it echoing in his mind. He doesn’t care about living, he just wants to get by. Isn’t that enough? This is why he hates working with people. 

“Do you listen to other things besides classical music?” Yamaguchi asks with a raised eyebrow. Tsukishima is taken aback, offended by his question.

“Of course I do! I’m just not really big into composing anything other than classical.” 

“What about pop?”

Tsukishima’s head almost explodes. His blood is boiling now. How can this kid be this inconsiderate?

“You want me to write a pop song for my music final?” The blond gaped. He couldn’t believe his own ears. 

“I don’t know! I’m just spitting out ideas!” Yamaguchi says. 

Saeko claps her hands loudly, interrupting their conversation. The room grows quiet and all attention turns to her. 

“Okay everyone! That’s it for today! Make sure to exchange contact info with your partner and we will meet back here on Saturday! Have a good night everyone!” 

People begin to pack up their things and Tsukishima can see that some people have already started writing down sheet music. He groans and turns to the freckled man.

“What’s your number?” Yamaguchi extends his phone, gesturing for the blond to take it.

“Excuse me?” The blond questions. Yamaguchi rolls his eyes.

“It’s for the project. So we can keep in touch and ask each other questions, since it seems like we really aren’t on the same page here.” Yamaguchi hands the taller boy his phone. Tsukishima judges him for having a pink glittery phone case, but he is a dance major after all.

The blond types in his phone number. Yamaguchi takes his phone back and types something on his phone. 

“There, I just texted you my name so you know my number.” A ping comes from Tsukishima’s pocket. The pulls it out and reads the text from the unknown number: “Yamaguchi”. 

“Ah shit.” Yamaguchi says, looking at the clock on the wall. “I gotta go. I’ll text you later about the project okay? See ya.” Yamaguchi dashes out the door. 

Tsukishima checks the time. 

6:34 pm. 

Tsukishima walks across campus to the bus stop. The sun is going down and he feels a slight breeze through his hair. He puts on his headphones and walks onto the bus, sitting down in his usual seat. 

Once he gets to his apartment, he begins to make dinner. Nothing special, just heating up some left overs. He pulls out his table from under his bed and grabs his math text book and laptop and starts on his homework while eating his dinner. 

He finishes most of his homework but is starting to grow drowsy, so he thinks it’s best that he just leaves the rest for tomorrow morning. 

He cleans up his mess and changes into a comfy t-shirt and his boxer briefs before turning off the lights and crawling into bed. 

He already feels the stress of this week weighing down on him, and it’s only Monday.


	2. Angry Jazz

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tsukishima mainly is just angry in this chapter lol. Also Bokuto and Kuroo teasing him.

Tsukishima is pissed. No he’s beyond pissed. He’s fuming with hatred for that freckled freak. He would be screaming to the top of his lungs if he wasn’t so goddamn exhausted.

All throughout the night, Yamaguchi was texting him ideas about the project. Every time he texted him, the blond’s phone would loudly ping and wake him up. He barely got any sleep and was almost late to work because of it. He didn’t even get to work on any of his homework and now had to finish it on the bus.

Yamaguchi comes into his work again today, looking tired but acting upbeat. Glitter and remains of eyeliner on his face appear again. He orders an espresso again and smiles sweetly at the blond.

“Did you like any of my ideas?” The freckled man asks. Tsukishima shoots him a glare.

“No. And don’t text me in the middle of night. I didn’t get any sleep because my phone kept going off.” Tsukishima can feel his face dragging down to the ground, as if gravity was making it fall off. He just wants to shut his eyes and sleep standing up. He finishes the espresso and hands it to him.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry!” Yamaguchi apologizes. He seems genuinely sincere, but that doesn’t change the blond’s attitude. He takes the espresso from his hands with a polite “thank you”. 

“Just, text me during the day. What were you doing up all night anyway?” 

Yamaguchi almost chokes on his espresso. 

“Uhm... work! I was working. I work graveyard shift almost every night.” Yamaguchi gives the blond a big smile. Something didn’t seem right with this kid. Where does this guy work? If he stays up all night, why is he getting a coffee and not going to sleep? 

Tsukishima doesn’t want to know too much about this guy, so he keeps his questions to himself.

“It won’t happen again! I promise I’ll only text you during the day just uh... could you not text me during noon to 3?” Yamaguchi asks. Tsukishima now has even more questions, but again he doesn’t want to show any interest in this guy. 

“Fine.” Tsukishima says flatly. 

“Thank you! I’ll see you tomorrow morning!” And with that the freckled man leaves with a smile. 

Tsukishima sighs heavily. He doesn’t know how much more he can take from this kid. 

Before clocking out, Tsukishima makes himself an espresso to try and wake himself up.

***

The espresso doesn’t work. He still feels like shit and now he’s nodding off in his physics class.

Kuroo - who shares more classes with him than he likes - tries to stifle his laugh as the blond’s head bobs. 

“Hey blondie? What’s up? Why are you so tired today?” Kuroo whispers. Tsukishima furrows his eyebrows at him. Why does he always have to sit next to him in every class?

“I just didn’t get enough sleep last night.” Tsukishima whispers back. 

“What was keeping you up? Or should I say, who?” Kuroo raises an eyebrow at the blond, grinning at his own joke. 

“Shut up. I’m doing a project with this guy in my music class and he wouldn’t stop texting me throughout the night.” Tsukishima’s blood is beginning to boil just by recalling it. “He’s a real fucking pain.”

“Oh damn! I’ve never seen you this angry before!” Kuroo says, a little too loudly. Some people give them flares and the black haired man apologizes with a smile and a wave of his hand.

“It really pisses me off. He texts me all these ideas - that by the way, are absolute shit - throughout the entire night, keeping me up because every time my phone pings from one of his texts, it echos throughout my apartment. Then he comes into my work at 7 in the morning with this idiotic smile on face, completely inconsiderate of his actions, and tries to be all buddy-buddy with me!” Tsukishima says quietly but passionately. He’s red in the face with anger. He didn’t even get to listen to music this morning because of that idiot kid.

Taking a few deep breaths, the blond calms down and returns to his note book. 

“Hey look man-“ 

“It’s whatever. I’m fine. I’m just stressed.” Tsukishima interrupts Kuroo. 

“That’s what I’m saying, dude! Come with Bokuto and me to the cabaret this weekend! It’ll at least help you blow off some steam, and watch cute girls and guys dance.” Kuroo says with a big grin. Kuroo is very open with his sexuality. He’s not the type of hide what he likes and he voices his interests a lot. He's never really said that he's bisexual though just that he likes both men and women. He even tried to hit on the blond when they first met, but Tsukishima turned him down immediately (almost gagging at the thought).

It’s not that Tsukishima has never thought about sex or a relationship, it’s just that he’s never had an interest in it. All he does is eat, sleep, school, and work. He doesn’t have time for a relationship, nor does he want one. 

Although, listening to some music and watching people dance might help him with his project. He knows that cabarets usually play jazz, which isn’t what Tsukishima wants to write, but his partner mentioned something about liking jazz. Maybe if he just listens to some of it, he can compose a small piece and then he wouldn’t have to help his partner much with the dancing portion of the project. He might as well expand his horizons, for his own sake though. 

“Alright. I’ll go.” Tsukishima says as quiet as he can, almost regretting saying it.

“What?! Really?!” Kuroo practically yells. The entire class turns to him again, glaring. “Sorry!” Kuroo smiles and the class goes back to taking notes. “That’s awesome dude! Bokuto and I will pick you up after class on Saturday!” He whispers to the blond, before excitingly returning to his notes.

Tsukishima rolls his eyes.

***

Over the week, Tsukishima and Yamaguchi have been texting sparingly about the project. Tsukishima told him he has some ideas about the genre of music he’s going for and that he’s thinking about doing jazz. Yamaguchi seemed very excited about his change in opinion, but wanted to talk more about it when they were actually in class. Tsukishima thought about asking him to talk about it outside of class, but he’d rather not make himself closer to the guy. He’s still a bit on edge with him.

Yamaguchi still comes in every morning to order an espresso. He also kept his promise about not texting him at night. Tsukishima accidentally texted him at 1:30 pm once and apologized, since Yamaguchi told him to not text him during noon to 3 pm. The freckled man forgave him easily though.

Saturday rolls around sooner than later and Tsukishima is wearing a blue button up shirt with black slacks. Kuroo told him to dress nice, since after class they are going straight to the cabaret, but he hopes his appearance doesn’t raise an eyebrows. As soon as he walks in, he’s greeted by the freckled man, who somehow always has the biggest smile on his face.

“Hey Tsukki!” Yamaguchi calls, bouncing up to him. Tsukishima groans. He forgot that Yamaguchi calls him “Tsukki” now. All thanks to Bokuto. 

After math class on Thursday, Bokuto kept following him around because he found out from Kuroo that the blond was actually going to go with them to the cabaret and that he wasn’t going to bail like he always did. 

“This is great Tsukki! I’m so glad you’re coming with us!” Bokuto says, jumping up and down.

“I told you not to call me that!” Tsukishima snaps at him. 

“Tsukishima?” The call of his name makes the blond turn around to face whoever wanted his attention this time. 

It was Yamaguchi. 

“Tsukishima! It’s so weird seeing you not in the coffee shop or during class!” Yamaguchi walks up to the two men, smiling. Ah right, Yamaguchi also goes to school here.

“Woah! Tsukki you have other friends besides me and Kuroo?” Bokuto asks, completely surprised that Tsukishima would talk to anyone who didn’t have the forceful personalities like Bokuto and Kuroo possess.

“We are doing a project together, dipshit. And I’m not your friend.” Tsukishima replies.

“Tsukki? Is that your nickname?” Yamaguchi asks with a smile. 

“Yeah! It’s cute right? You should call him that from now on. He loves it!” Bokuto teases.

“Bokuto-“ Tsukishima begins to say angrily.

“Alright! I’ll call you ‘Tsukki’ from now on! I gotta get to class now! See you later!” Yamaguchi waves goodbye and walks in the other direction. 

Bokuto couldn’t contain his laughter and ran away before Tsukishima could beat him up for it.

Now, on Saturday evening, he has to deal with the consequences. He doesn’t know Yamaguchi we’ll enough to insult him like he does with Kuroo and Bokuto, so he just keeps his anger bottled up inside.

“What’s with the get up? You got a date?” Yamaguchi asks, stretching is legs as the blond pulls up a chair to sit in. Tsukishima takes out some blank sheet paper and a pencil.

“No, my friends are taking me somewhere tonight.” Tsukishima says. He doesn’t want to admit that they are going to a cabaret, especially since it’s that strange underground cabaret his bus stops at sometimes.

“A party?” Yamaguchi asks, his legs are spread wide and his chest is just barely touching the floor. He reaches his arms out in front of him.

“Yeah.” Tsukishima says, tearing his eyes away from the man. It seemed to easy and natural for him to be that flexible.

“So,” Yamaguchi changes positions to stretch out his legs more, “you’re really thinking about writing jazz?” 

“Yeah. I’m a pretty quick learner. I’m sure I’ll pick it up easily. Plus I know how to play the trumpet, the tuba, and the saxophone somewhat. I’m more skilled on the saxophone though.” Tsukishima brags. He took band in high school and hasn’t played any of those instruments in years, but he technically did learn all of them while hopping instruments to find out which one he liked the most.

“Wow! That’s awesome!” Yamaguchi says in awe. Wow this kid was pretty easy to deceive. “When did you start playing instruments?” 

“Uh... I don’t know. I started with the piano when I was around five, I think.” Tsukishima honestly can’t remember. His life has always been filled with music. Playing instruments, listening to music, reading sheet music were all things he enjoyed ever since he was young.

“That’s cool!” Yamaguchi slides slowly into the splits. The blond watches, intrigued that he could do something to easily. He winces as he imagines how much it would hurt him to try something like that. “I started dancing when I was four years old! I took some ballet classes but it just wasn’t my thing, you know? My parents then put me in a beginners jazz class at six and I fell in love with it!” He rolls his body from side splits to center splits. “I’ve been dancing jazz ever since!” 

Oh, so that’s why he mentioned jazz with such a far off look on Monday. His whole life has been jazz.

“I didn’t ask.” Tsukishima says jokingly, which makes the freckled man laugh. 

They talk more about the project, still trying to come to terms with the details. Jazz is definitely on the table, but the tempo and dance moves is what they need to agree on. Tsukishima wants to write an upbeat song but Yamaguchi says then he’d have to dance harder and faster. 

“Is that a bad thing?” The blond asks, looking up from his notes. 

“Well, no but it’s just tiring. We could do a slow song! I’m very good at dancing slowly.” Yamaguchi’s eyes open wide and his lips part a little, as if he shocked himself by the words that came out of his mouth. 

Tsukishima checks the time. The class is almost over. 

“Well, it looks like we’ll have to talk about it more on Monday.” Tsukishima says. 

Saeko claps her hands loudly and dismisses the class with a wave and a smile. People begin to pack their bags slowly, except for Yamaguchi, who shoves his items into his bags and practically sprints out of the music room. 

Confused, Tsukishima raises an eyebrow but concludes that it’s probably his graveyard shift that he has to work tonight.

The blond opens the music room door to see two idiots waving at him. He sighs heavily before trudging over to them. 

“Hey blondie! Hurry up! We gotta get there before all the tickets are taken! It’s Saturday night so it’s gonna be packed!” Kuroo says. He grabs the blond’s wrist and drags him down the hallway. 

Tsukishima already knows this is gonna be a long night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two is done! Hopefully there's not spelling or grammatical errors! Thank you for reading! Chapter three is up next and they finally go to the cabaret!!!!!


	3. Bienvenue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter but it explains Yamaguchi's side of the story now!

Yamaguchi races out of the music room and down the street. Sprinting as fast as he can, he finally reaches the familiar 1996 Toyota RAV4 waiting for him. He opens the door, flings his book bag in the back seat and hops into the passager side seat. He buckles his seat belt and finally relaxes to catch his breath.

“Geez! Calm down already! You’re not gonna be late! At least, not with me driving!” The orange haired man says brightly, shifting gears and speeding off.

“Sorry, Hinata. I’m just so excited! I love Saturday nights! They are always packed!” Yamaguchi says with a smile. 

Hinata laughs. 

“Well, at least you’re passionate about it! I wish Akaashi and Kenma were more enthusiastic about performing.” Hinata responds, turning up the volume on his radio.  
Britney Spears ‘Toxic’ just began.

“Well my major is literally dance!” Yamaguchi says with a smile. “Kenma is a business major and Akaashi is an art major, so I can see how they wouldn’t be as into it as I am.” 

Yamaguchi wants to sing along to the song but he doesn’t want to destroy his voice before the performance. Instead he just bounces his leg up and down to the beat to satisfy the urge to sing, and also to calm his nerves. 

Hinata groans loudly. “Ah shit!”

“What is it?”

“I’ve got sport education homework due on Monday. Dammit! I totally blanked! I’ll do it at intermission tonight.” Hinata groans again and slaps his cheek. The freckled man laughs at his friend.

“How was class?” Hinata asks, turning down the volume. 

“It was okay. I finally got some headway with my partner on the project today, so that’s good! We are actually doing jazz! Isn’t that great?” Yamaguchi exclaims. The orange haired man giggles.

“Yeah! I’m happy for you!” Hinata turns his car to enter the ally way.

“How’s your car?” Yamaguchi asks, patting the dashboard. 

“It’s good.” He says with a sigh. “The battery needed to be changed, so I took it in on Monday. I almost missed the bus actually! I was talking with Tanaka about menu items and then I realized that I couldn’t take my car to school that day and that I needed to take the bus or I’d miss my classes. I ran up those steps so quickly I didn’t even have time to say ‘goodbye’ to Tanaka!” Hinata and Yamaguchi laugh loudly. Yeah, that sounds like something Hinata would do.

Hinata pulls up to back of the rundown building just as Britney Spears ‘Circus’ began. He parked and shut off his car. 

“Time for action!” Hinata says, pumped up. They both hop out of the car, Yamaguchi carrying his book bag with him. 

The orange haired man unlocks the back door with his key and allows the freckled man to enter first. Yamaguchi skips happily into the building and down the steps. He reaches a door that has a piece of paper taped to it that reads ‘Dressing Room, No Perverts Allowed’ and flings it open.

“Good evening everyone!” Yamaguchi beams. 

Kenma looks up from his game and greets the excited man with a nod. He’s sitting at his mirror that reads ‘Kitty’ above it. He has on an over-sized black jacket and Yamaguchi can see his black tights under his gym shorts. His hair is pinned up with two black bobby-pins to keep it out of his face and his subtle but cute eyeshadow has already been done.

“Good evening, Yamaguchi.” Akaashi says, applying his signature winged eyeliner. His mirror reads ‘Beau’. He has on a black leotard and grey sweatpants. A few manga books sit on his vanity and he goes back an forth between reading the one open on his vanity and doing his makeup.

Yamaguchi throws off his shirt and begins to change into his first outfit for the night. It’s the costume for the opening number, since it’s a Saturday. 

This dressing room is technically supposed to be a storage unit, but it turned into the boy’s dressing room by adding more over head lights and some vanities along with a clothing rack to keep their costumes close by. The girls dressing room is on the other side of the hallway and next to it is supposed to be the ‘men’s dressing room’ but with all the girls that work here, they needed an extra room for their costumes. It also has a sewing machine and a few mannequins so that Yachi - the costume maker- can work. The boys can go visit the girls dressing room from time to time, but the ladies wanted to have a little privacy away from the boys. 

The boys didn’t mind though. Kenma and Akaashi liked the quietness of the room, and Hinata and Yamaguchi could always just go across the hall if they ever wanted to talk to the girls. Although, it doesn’t happen often because the girls dressing room is always hectic. There are a lot more girls than guys, but that’s to be expected in a cabaret.

Yamaguchi takes out his makeup from the drawer of his vanity. He draws a heavy line of black pencil eyeliner around his eyes before smudging it out with a dark red. He finishes his eyes with a thick coat of mascara and fills in his eyebrows. He pats on a heavy amount of blush before grabbing his favorite glittery highlight. He applies it heavily to his cheek bones and the tip of his nose. To finish it all off, he puts on a reddish lip stain and a clear coat of lip gloss over it. 

He has on his opening number costume that everyone wears on Saturday night. This is the night where almost all of the cabaret girls and guys perform since everyone works their normal jobs during the week. Although, there are people like Yamaguchi who work every night since the cabaret is their only job. Hinata is also one of those types, but he also basically lives here. 

There’s an apartment upstairs where Hinata and Yachi share a room together. The owner also lives there, but he goes between his apartment upstairs and his boyfriend’s apartment, so he’s only there sometimes. 

The door to the dressing room opens suddenly and the owners head peaks through. He doesn’t have on his glasses and he is wearing bit of makeup but not too much. His boyfriend must be working tonight if he’s wearing makeup and using his contacts. Although, Iwaizumi usually works as the bodyguard on Saturday nights.

“Yahoo~! Is everyone ready? The show starts in 20 minutes!” Oikawa says with a smile.

“Yes sir!” The four men reply at different times with different levels of enthusiasm.

“Okay! Be in the wings in 15 minutes!” Oikawa chimed before shutting the door to check on the girls.

Yamaguchi looks at himself in the mirror and does a little spin, happy and confident in his appearance. He’s been in dance all his life so he knows a few things about makeup but he didn’t really start to learn until he began working here about a year ago. That was before they turned the storage unit into a make shift dressing room. He was the last boy to join the cabaret and he’s also the youngest one in the entire cabaret. The girls instantly fell in love with him and taught him everything he needed to know about make up, acting sensual on stage, and sex advice (even though he’s never really done anything with anyone before).

He took this job because his old jazz dance studio closed down and there was no where else for him to go. When he ran into Hinata in his dance class in the beginning of his sophomore year, the orange haired boy let him in on his secret: he worked at a cabaret! It shocked Yamaguchi at first but he was intrigued. He knew about cabarets but not much. When Hinata finally convinced him to come watch one night, Yamaguchi fell in love right away. The dancing, the music, the singing, the costumes, the lights; all of it attracted him. He wanted to be on that stage.

So when a few weeks passed by and Hinata told him about auditions for a new male performer, Yamaguchi instantly signed up. Not a lot of men went to the audition and most of them were much shorter than he was. His height made him stand out, but Hinata will tell him that it was his dancing and singing skills that got him the job. 

He’s not a skilled singer per se, but he was in a few musicals in high school. He took some lessons at the college and has gotten better over the years but Akaashi and Kiyoko are by far the best singers out of the entire group of performers. 

Yachi comes in to check everyone’s costumes quickly. She runs her hands over some places and checked to make sure there were no threads hanging off anywhere. She gives everyone an ‘okay’ and hugged Hinata before going to check on the girls costumes.

“Okay guys! Ready to go?” Hinata asks, standing up from his mirror that reads ‘Honey’. He his signature smokey nude eyeshadow that he does every night has been applied (he argues that only nude eyeshadow looks good with with his orange hair) and his mess of a hair has at least been somewhat styled, but Yamaguchi doesn’t think anyone can tame that rats nest. 

“Yeah, just make sure you don’t drop a bucket of glitter on your head like you did on Sunday.” Kenma says with a smile, finally putting away his game. 

“It was an accident! How was I supposed to know that there was an open bucket of glitter near the bowler hats?! Why was it open in the first place?! Also why are the bowler hats up so high?! I could barely reach them! That’s why the bucket fell on me!” Hinata argues, still upset about the whole situation.

“Yeah, yeah we know Hinata.” Akaashi says, buttoning up his top, but leaving the first two buttons undone.

“I had glitter in my hair for this entire week! It was so annoying! I’m still finding it everywhere!” Hinata says picking up a piece of glitter off his black slacks.

“That’s what you get for working in a cabaret.” Yamaguchi says, laughing at his friend. 

The four begin to walk to the wings, meeting up with the girls. One of the girls helps Hinata fix his hair but it just pops back to the form it was before. Their snickers turn quiet when Oikawa pushes through them to get the stage.

“Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen! I am Tooru Oikawa! But you can call me ‘The Grand King’. There’s a few rules before we start the show. Please no recording or pictures taking at any time! It’s no fun if it’s not in person, right? Please no talking, texting, or calling during sets. It distracts our performers and our guests. If you break any of these rules, you can and will be kicked out. Dinner will be served during intermission! I’m so glad you could all be here tonight with us and I hope you enjoy your stay at The Crow’s Den!” Oikawa grandly gestures, gives the crowd a sweet smile and trots off stage. 

Finally, the music begins.


	4. Let The Show Begin

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yamaguchi performs finally!

Yamaguchi’s chest rises and falls quickly as he comes off stage. They just finished the first number. It was quick paced and difficult like it always is, but Yamaguchi hasn’t had a enough. He wants to dance all night! He can already feel his heart racing with anticipation. The cheers from the crowd make him giddy. 

He rushes to the dressing room to change into the costume for the next number. He just has to do a shirt change since his next set is a duo. He loves the duo dance because he basically gets to fling the girl around on stage. It’s super fun but could be dangerous if he doesn’t do it right. 

He changes his button up shirt for a white tank top. He clips on his suspenders to his black slacks and grabs a bowler hat from the costume room. 

“Has anyone seen my hair brush?” Yamaguchi hears as the door to the girl’s dressing room opens. 

Michimiya shuts the door to the girls dressing room and gasps when she turns and sees Yamaguchi. 

“You scared the living daylights of me!” She says. Her makeup is done well and her short hair is styled in waves. She’s wearing a short dress with fishnets underneath and black character shoes. “Are you ready for our set?” She smiles at the tall man.

“Yep!” Yamaguchi gives her a thumbs up. She grabs onto his arm and begins to walk to the wings.

“Good! Then let’s go!” 

He’s pumped for this set. Him and Michimiya have been practicing for weeks now and they finally felt confident enough about it to perform it last week. However, they messed up a few times during the performance. Oikawa told them that if they can’t get it perfect next time, he’s going to take it out. He couldn’t bare to see one of his performers hurt. They practiced it even harder the entire week to show the boss that they are ready and responsible enough. It took a lot out of Yamaguchi, since the only times they could meet were between noon and three o’clock. He usually takes a nap during that time to get some rest before school, but he was determined to perfect this piece.

Michimiya shakes out her limbs in the wings before Oikawa walks on stage to introduce them. 

“And now, a story of forbidden love. I introduce to you: Angel and Strawberry!” Oikawa walks off stage as the audience claps. 

The lights fade to black. The jazz music starts of slow, and the audience can make out two posed figures in the dark. When the beat hits, the lights flash on. Yamaguchi circles Michimiya, his hand gliding across her waist. She reaches out to touch him but pushes him away when he tries to come closer. The jazz music increasingly builds up. The two chase each other on stage, grasping at each other at times and pushing each other away at others. He picks her up and glides her across the stage. Spinning her, Yamaguchi prepares himself for the lift. At the climax of the song, he lifts her into the air. Then, Michimiya falls and Yamaguchi catches her in his arms. The music slows down and she goes limp, still pointing her toes as Yamaguchi slowly crouches to the ground with her. He grabs her head and rests their foreheads together. The lights fade out as the music ends. 

The crowd cheers and the two dancers walk of stage. Michimiya grabs Yamaguchi’s hands and swings him around. 

“That was amazing!!! You did so well! I’m so proud of you!” She says enthusiastically. 

“Thank you! You did great as well!” Yamaguchi praises her back. He blushes at her compliments.

“Now, go get ready for your set! I can’t wait to see it!” Michimiya giggles and prances to the dressing room.

Yamaguchi sighs. He’s nervous for his set. It’s not the first set he’s done alone, but it’s his first time singing alone. And on top of that, his outfit is very, very revealing.

He walks back to the boys dressing room where everyone except Hinata is there. Akaashi is reading a manga and Kenma is busy with his game, so Yamaguchi takes this opportunity to change into his outfit.

Yamaguchi takes off his tank top and unclips his suspenders. He sets down the bowler hat on his vanity. He then takes off his pants and underwear. Feeling embarrassed, the freckled man quickly slips on the dark red lacy bottoms (that show a little too much for his liking). He then slips on a matching pair of thigh high lacy socks. Attached to the socks are straps that he has to connect to another strap around his mid. He rolls on the black lacy cuffs around his wrists. Lastly, he puts on the black heels. 

He takes a step back and looks at himself in the mirror. It’s embarrassing. He’s never seen himself like this before and he’s getting self conscious about his body. 

“Woah! You look hot!” Hinata exclaims as he walks into the room. Akaashi and Kenma look up quickly and take in what Yamaguchi is wearing. 

“It’s a little embarrassing.” Yamaguchi says shyly. He can feel his face turning red.

“You’ve literally humped girls on stage and you’re being shy about this?” Kenma raises his eyebrow. Kenma pulls his sweater over his head to reveal his corset and thigh high socks that connect to it. 

“That’s different! That’s just dancing!” 

“And this is just a costume.” Kenma says bluntly. “I gotta go, my group is up next.” He opens the dressing room door to join the girls dressed similarly to him. 

Yamaguchi hears the girls tell Kenma how pretty he looks before the door completely shuts. 

Kenma does look pretty in his outfit, but Yamaguchi is different. Kenma has lustful eyes and a small frame. He and Akaashi can pull off anything with their looks. Even Hinata can wear most things and make them look good, it’s just the color of his hair that can look awkward with certain items. But Yamaguchi... he’s different. He’s tall and lanky. His freckles on his shoulders look out of place and he has baby fat underneath his chin.

“Dude, stop picking yourself apart.” Hinata says, noticing how hard Yamaguchi is staring at himself in his mirror. “You look super hot! Akaashi, doesn’t he look hot?” 

“You look good, Yamaguchi. Don’t worry about a thing.” Akaashi says, looking up from his manga.

Yamaguchi takes in a deep breath before walking out of the dressing room. Some of the girls gasp as he walks by and whisper to each other and others tell him that he looks sexy. He laughs it off and quietly walks down the hallway to wait in the wings for his song to start. 

He grabs his prop chair and takes deep breaths to try and calm himself down. 

“Hey! You look amazing!” Oikawa says, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“Thank you! I feel very... open.” Yamaguchi knows Oikawa plans all of the costumes with Yachi, so he doesn’t want to say anything that might hurt the boss’s feelings. 

“I’m sure the audience will love it.” Oikawa steps out onto the stage after Kenma’s group number ends. Kenma walks off stage and gives Yamaguchi a reassuring thumbs up before walking to the dressing room. 

“And now for the final act before we go to intermission: Strawberry performing ‘Till There Was You’!” Oikawa waves and walks of stage.

The lights dim and Yamaguchi strolls on. He places his chair in the middle of the stage, the back of the chair facing the audience. Yamaguchi sits on it backwards to face the crowd and the music begins. 

‘There were bells on the hill  
But I never heard them ringing’

Yamaguchi arches his back and caresses the chair. 

‘No I never heard them at all  
Till there was you’

The freckled man gently rests his head on the chair and seductively looks across the crowd. He pushes himself off the chair and slowly circles it.

‘There were birds in the sky,  
But I never saw them winging’

He saunters into the crowd. He runs his hands along the audience’s shoulders, looking some of them in the eye. Some of them reach out to touch him, grazing his bare back with their fingertips.

‘No I never saw them at all  
Till there was you’

Yamaguchi backs up into a table, resting his hands on it before he gently lays down on it. The feeling of the rough table cloth hits his back. He arches his back and brings one knee up before turning his head to the side to look at the people sitting at the table. 

His heart almost stops. 

He blinks to make sure he’s actually seeing correctly, but there’s no mistake because the person he’s looking at has the same shocked face. 

It’s Tsukishima. 

Yamaguchi’s chest feels heavy and his stomach is twisting into knots. He can feel everything in his entire body starting to sink.

He’s embarrassed, humiliated, horrified and everything in between. 

Almost forgetting that he’s performing, the dancer quickly moved onto another table.

‘And there was music  
And there were wonderful roses’

He glances back at Tsukishima’s table, the blond’s jaw is slack and his eyes are fixated on him. 

Yamaguchi tries to ignore him and get on with the song.

‘They tell me in sweet fragrant meadows  
Of dawn and dew’ 

Yamaguchi slowly begins to return to the stage, taking his time with his steps. Some people whistle as he shows his backside.

‘There was love all around  
But I never heard it singing’ 

He returns to his chair, sitting in it and once again resting his head on top of it.

He glances at Tsukishima again, but this time he can’t pry his eyes away from him.

‘No, I never heard it at all  
Till there was you’

The lights fade out as Tsukishima and him lock eyes. 

Yamaguchi snaps out of his trance when he hears the roar, cheers and whistles from the crowd. In a panic, he quickly drags the chair off stage and rushes to the dressing room. He slams the door and stands in front of his vanity.

“Hey Yamaguchi! You did so-“ Hinata pauses as he sees the look on Yamaguchi’s face. He’s terrified. 

The freckled man clasps his hand over his mouth before rushing to the trash can beside the door. He leans over and vomits. 

“Oh my god!” Hinata exclaims. Kenma and Akaashi raise their heads in concern.

The door swings open.

“Tadashi, baby? Why’d you run off? I wanted to tell you how good you did!” Oikawa smiles sweetly, poking his head through the door. When he looks down beside him, he sees the dancer on the ground next to the trash can. His entire attitude switches. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay? Are you hurt? Are you sick?” The boss leans down next to the man and places his hand over his back. “Here, drink some water.” 

Yamaguchi takes the water bottle from Oikawa’s hands and takes a sip before he leans over the trash can to vomit again. Hinata quickly goes to try and hold his hair back. Everyone in the dressing room is looking at him with concern. 

“Oh no, baby. Are you okay?”

Yamaguchi shakes his head. “I have a real bad stomach ache.” 

“Was it because of the number? You know I wouldn’t force you to do anything you’re uncomfortable with.” Oikawa says, brushing back some of the hair Hinata missed.

“No, I know. It’s not because of the number.” Yamaguchi closes his eyes tightly.

Tsukishima’s shocked face is burned into the back of his eyes.

No one was ever supposed to find out about him working at the cabaret. He kept it a secret from everyone, even his family and close friends. He doesn’t want rumors spread about him and he doesn’t want to disappoint his family. But now his secret is out - Tsukishima saw Yamaguchi exposing his entire body to him and the rest of the crowd while dancing seductively. 

What would Tsukishima think of him now? Will he think he’s disgusting for working in a place like this? Does he think he’s a whore? Will he spread rumors about him all over school? Does Yamaguchi need to transfer schools?

Thinking about all the possibilities makes him lean over the trash can and vomit one more time.

“Oh sweetheart. Maybe you should go home for the night.” Oikawa says, rubbing his back. 

“What about the second act?” Yamaguchi looks up at his boss, tears running down his face. It’s ruining his makeup.

“I don’t think it’s wise for you to go on stage if you’re sick, hun. I’ll fill in for you tonight.” Oikawa brushes the tears away. “Go home and rest!” Oikawa says before standing up and closing the door behind him.

“Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.” Hinata grabs the makeup wipes from his drawer.


	5. After Yamaguchi's Set

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gives some insight on what Tsukishima thought of Yamaguchi's performance and how the other boys enjoyed the Cabaret. Also just some Iwaoi at the end bc it's my comfort ship.  
> btw just in case anyone forgot, the cabaret dancer's all have stage names:  
> Beau = Akaashi  
> Kitty = Kenma

Tsukishima looks down at his untouched plate. He can’t bring himself to eat. His body has gone completely stiff. His heart is racing and he feels like his chest is going to explode. 

He wasn’t dreaming right? He looks around to see Bokuto and Kuroo stuffing their faces like nothing has happened, but then again, they wouldn’t know. 

“Hey, are you gonna eat or not?” Bokuto says, hovering his fork over Tsukishima’s food. The blond slaps his hand away before returning to his thoughts.

That was Yamaguchi, wasn’t it? He couldn’t have been mistaken. He’s seen him everyday for the past week at his work and he spent three hours in class with him earlier today. He knows what Yamaguchi looks like, but he just can’t bring himself to accept it.

He tries recall the moment. 

The dancer appeared on stage with almost nothing covering him. Tsukishima gets a little flustered but doesn’t show it. The dancer begins to walk through the crowd, touching people and singing to them until he ends up at their table. He laid gently on the table, his back arching which causes the blond’s heart to skip a beat. He can see almost every inch of this man. Then the man turns his head to look him straight in the eye. That’s when Tsukishima recognizes him. He watches as the dancer’s face also lights up in surprise. 

He tries to play it off and go to a different table, but Tsukishima knows those freckles anywhere. 

This explains everything.

The glitter, the smudged eyeliner, the espressos at 7 am, the texting in the middle of the night, the love for jazz music, even his stretching in class earlier that day was to prepare for this cabaret. 

Tsukishima stands up suddenly, causing the table to shake. Kuroo and Bokuto look up from their food.

“I’m going to the bathroom.” He says and walks off without even looking at them.

He opens the door to the bathroom, almost running into someone else, but his brain doesn’t even register it. 

He walks up to the sink, throwing his glasses on the counter, and splashes his face with cold water to calm himself down.

He’s never thought of anyone as attractive before. He’s never been flustered over something like that before. No one has ever made him blush like that before. No one has ever made his heart skip a beat. 

But Yamaguchi did. All in one night. All in one song. 

Tsukishima feels his heart in his chest pounding. He grabs a handful of his shirt over his heart.

Yamaguchi is the first person he’s been physically attracted to.

***

Bokuto always knew he liked women. Big breasts, big butts, long hair and round faces are all the things he finds attractive in women. He’s had a few girlfriends but nothing serious. He just hasn’t clicked with anyone yet. He’s been told that he’s “clingy”. 

He’s the type of boyfriend that needs constant reassurance. A few of his ex-girlfriends have dumped him because he’s the type of person who’s mood easily changes. Compliments are the only things that can make him perk up and get back into a good mood. Unfortunately, many of his ex-girlfriends are the type who’d rather be complimented then give them. 

Even so, Bokuto knows he’s only been attracted to women. He even went to the cabaret with Kuroo to see all the beautiful women dancing. When the first song starts, his eyes are drawn to the scantily dressed women. Their breasts are out and they sensually dance with the other men on stage. Bokuto cheers loudly throughout the entire night, more than satisfied with their performances.

After the three of them eat (except for Tsukishima who for some reason just wanted to drink), the second act finally begins. The owner talks to the audience to introduce the next act.

“And now, a solo dance by Beau.” The brown haired man walks off stage and the lights dim. 

In an instant, the lights flash up on stage. A man with long eyelashes, black hair, a sharp jaw-line, and a skinny frame appears on stage. He’s only wearing a black harness belt on his upper body and black skin tight shorts to go along with it. The jazz music begins and Bokuto is amazed by the man’s dance movements. 

He’s graceful and elegant, delicate with every step. He seems so mysterious but so alluring. Beau sprawls on the floor of the stage before arching is back and slowly lifiting himself up. He then switches along with the beat to lower himself back on the stage into the splits. He rolls on the floor, showing his backside for just a split second.

Bokuto’s face begins to heat up and he feels butterflies in his stomach. His mouth feels dry, so he takes a sip of his drink, but it doesn’t help. He can’t take his eyes off Beau.

The dancer’s body glides across the stage beautifully, but his face is relaxed and sultry. There’s so much leg opening and closing and the dancer shows his backside often and slowly grinds on the floor. The music ends too soon, the lights dim, and the set is over. Bokuto feels his stomach sink, his eyes darting around to follow the man walking off stage in the dark. He didn’t want it to end. 

He sighs, shifts in his chair and furrows his eyebrows in confusion. His pants feel tighter than usual? He looks down and realizes he’s half way ready for action. 

Embarrassed and flustered, he moves his chair closer to the to the table so his lap can hide comfortably under it. 

Even though Bokuto knew he’s always liked women, he thinks that now men could also be on his radar, as long as it’s Beau. 

***

Kuroo has been thoroughly enjoying himself this entire time. He’s not the type to usually go to places like this but he’s definitely glad he did. Both the women and men were gorgeous. Some of them even came into the crowds to sing and dance to them. One man laid down on their table and he was basically half naked. 

Kuroo was starting to get just a little horny. Flexing his thigh to try and calm himself down, he turns his attention back to the stage. The group just finished and the owner was coming back on stage to announce the next act.

“For our last solo of the night, it’s my pleasure to introduce Kitty!” The tall man walks off stage to allow a smaller man to strut on.

Kuroo immediately perks up. He’s watched this man dance in a few numbers before and is now infatuated with him. His upturned eyes, his blonde hair that shows his roots, his small frame, the uninterested look on his face: oh yeah, this man was Kuroo’s type. 

He could just imagine teasing this man to try and get reactions out him. 

The music begins with a harsh beat and the dancer falls into the splits but quickly lifts himself up. He’s wearing a black and red corset over a loose white dress shirt that isn’t buttoned up. He can see a hint of something black under the long shirt, probably just some dance shorts. 

The music is fast paced and the dancer keeps up with it, his uninterested look never changes. Even when he’s basically doing ariels, this man keeps the same bored face. This makes Kuroo even more interested in this man. If he acts like this when performing, how long will it take to get a reaction out of him? 

Kuroo is completely attracted to this man. Sexually and other wise.

When the set ends, he claps loudly and smiles. 

‘Kitty’. 

***

Oikawa runs back on stage one last time for the ending number, having only Kenma’s performance to change into Yamaguchi’s costume. 

Although he’s watched every show and helped choreograph and rehearse them, it’s been a while since he’s performed in one. He’s usually the stage manager and announcer of the entire show and has been for quite some time. After the previous owner of the cabaret gave full ownership to him, he’s been non-stop working to make it better. He found that his passion was more about working backstage but he doesn’t mind being front a center sometimes. 

The last number goes smoothly, since Oikawa choreographed it and rehearsed it with the performers at every rehearsal. The song ends and his chest heaves up and down as he holds his pose. When the curtains begin to fall, he quickly walks up in front of them.

“Thank you so much for joining us everyone! I hope you had a wonderful time at The Crow's Den and I can’t wait to see you next time! Have a good night! Ciao!” Oikawa bows. The crowd cheers one last time. The lights on the stage fade and the houselights turn on.

Oikawa walks off stage with a smile and a layer of sweat on his face. He looks up to see his boyfriend waiting for him in the wings.

“Baby!!” He practically shouts and flings himself into Iwaizumi’s arms. Iwaizumi laughs and hugs him tightly.

“Hi, sweetheart.” Iwaizumi looks up at his boyfriend and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Oikawa grabs his cheeks before planting a big kiss on his lips. 

“How did I do?” Oikawa asks, running his hands through his hair.

“You already know you did well.” Iwaizumi scoffs. The taller man giggles.

“I know!” Oikawa pulls his boyfriend closer.

“You are very sweaty and seem very tired.” Iwaizumi says, feeling the stickiness of his boyfriends back.

“I am.” Oikawa replies with a laugh, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

“Maybe we should just relax tonight?” Iwaizumi says quietly. The taller man’s attitude changes.

“No! I’m good to go tonight! Don’t worry about me, baby!” Oikawa hangs his arms around his boyfriend’s neck, giving him puppy dog eyes. 

“Ew.” Kenma says with a grimace on his face, walking to the prop table with Hinata. They are both changed into their everyday wear.

“Get a room!” Hinata says, passing by the love birds to put back a prop he forgot. 

“Say that to me when you two get boyfriends!” Oikawa sticks his tongue out at them and the orange haired man does it back. Kenma rolls his eyes at them.

“Come on, Shoyo. Let’s leave this dump.” Kenma grabs the sleeve of Hinata’s shirt.

“Hey! Don’t call my cabaret a dump!” Oikawa points at Kenma as the two dancers walk away. “I can fire you, you know?” 

Iwaizumi grabs his boyfriend’s face to divert the attention back to him. He places a soft kiss on his lips and Oikawa melts right into them, as if he wasn’t just threatening to fire one of his best dancers.


	6. Mulling It Over

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the long wait :( I'm going to be writing more soon! Tsukishima and Yamaguchi will meet in the next chapter for he first time after seeing each other at the cabaret

Yamaguchi wakes up on Sunday around noon. The sun rays blind him as he shifts in his bed. He doesn’t want to wake up. He doesn’t want to go back to work. He doesn’t want to go to school tomorrow.

He checks his phone. 

He only has one text from Hinata telling him that he’s going to head over soon. 

The freckled man sits up and tries his best to get out of bed. He walks across his beat up studio apartment to his bathroom. 

He looks at himself in the mirror.

God, he looks dead. A lot of eyeliner is left over from last night and his eyes are sunken. His hair is a mess and glitter is still all over his face, but those two things are normal for him. He’s pale. Way more pale then he usually is in the fall. 

Even though he doesn’t want to go back to work, he knows that he has to. He turns on the shower and plans to deep scrub himself to try and distract himself from thinking about yesterday, but it just makes him focus on it more.

Maybe Tsukishima didn’t actually recognize him? He didn’t text him or call him after that and no one told him that anyone was looking for him after the show. 

Maybe Yamaguchi is freaking out about nothing. He’s probably just paranoid that someone might have caught him working there. It was pretty dark, so it could be possible that Tsukishima was just surprised that a half naked man was laying down at his table instead of being surprised that that half naked man was Yamaguchi. 

The freckled man sighs and washes off his rose scented body soap that Hinata gave him for his birthday. The lid is broken because Hinata dropped the box on the way to his apartment for the party. The memory of Hinata’s worried face showing up at his front door and a smashed box in his hands makes him giggle. Yamaguchi told him that he was just happy that he showed up to the party and was grateful for any gift. He also remembers the cute t-shirt Kenma gave him with the print of a black cat and the little owl plushie Akaashi gave him on the same day. Just thinking about that day makes him smile.

Even if Tsukishima knew he worked at the cabaret, at least Yamaguchi has friends like Hinata, Kenma, and Akaashi to help him through anything.

Yamaguchi turns off his shower and goes to get ready. He pulls on a t-shirt and some sweatpants before he hears a loud knock on his door.

He looks through the peep hole and sees a wild mess of orange hair. The freckled man smiles and opens his door.

“Yamaguchi!” Hinata says brightly. He’s dressed in jeans and a volleyball jersey over a long sleeved shirt.

“Hello! I was just thinking about getting something to eat? Wanna come?” Yamaguchi offers, putting on his shoes.

“Yeah! Let’s get some coffee first! I need to refuel myself for tonight.” 

Hinata and Yamaguchi walk down the steps of his apartment building and onto the street. 

Yamaguchi lives in a cute little area near a bunch of shops. It’s not the best place to live, but he’s grateful for whatever he has. He doesn’t want to rely on his parents all the time, but they are beginning to question him about where he works and how he has enough money to live on his own. Yamaguchi always laughs and brushes it off, making up something about doing odd jobs or working at the convenience store. 

“Where’s a good coffee shop?” Hinata asks. 

“There’s one just down the street that I go to every morning. They have good espressos!” Yamaguchi smile fades when he remember’s that it’s the shop that Tsukishima works at.

“Okay! Let’s go there!” Hinata skips down the street in the direction of coffee shop. Yamaguchi’s heart begins to race in nervousness. He really doesn’t want to meet Tsukishima right now.

Hinata opens the door for the taller man and he holds his breath before entering. He sees a tall black haired man at the counter and a shorter grey haired man making drinks. Yamaguchi sighs in relief. 

Hinata hops to the counter and stares at the menu. 

“Hello, how can I help you?” The black haired employee asks in monotone.

“Hmmmmm.... what’s good?” Hinata asks the black haired man.

“I don’t know. Everything’s good.” The employee responds.

“Not everything can be good! What do you usually get?” Hinata shifts his feet. 

“I don’t drink coffee.” He deadpans.

“Then why did you say everything’s good?” The orange haired man huffs.

“Just pick something!” The employee starts to get a little frustrated. 

“I am trying, but I don’t know what’s good!” Hinata shouts back. Yamaguchi stares at them and looks to the other employee, who also hears this conversation. He has a smile on his face that Yamaguchi assumes is for looks because he can feel the anger coming off of him.

The grey haired employee steps next to his coworker. 

“Now now Kageyama, that’s not how we treat our customers.” The grey haired employee elbows Kageyama in the side, trying to pass it off as playful but the black haired man seems to be in genuine pain.

“Sorry, Suga.” Kageyama holds his side with his hands.

“Don’t say sorry to me! Say sorry to the customer.” Suga smiles sweetly, but his presence still has that dark aura.

“S...so...sorry...” Kageyama says, turning away from Hinata.

“I forgive you.” Hinata says, turning away as well, a bit embarrassed.

“Great! Now Kageyama, what would you recommend to....”

“Hinata.” 

“What would you recommend to Hinata?”

Kageyama looks at the orange haired man up and down.

“Milk.”

“Milk?! Are you calling me short?!” Hinata shouts angrily.

“Milk tastes good! And yes, you are short! I bet you can’t even spike a volleyball!” Kageyama says, looking down and pointing at the volleyball jersey Hinata is wearing. Suga is about to wack him in the side again, but Hinata interrupts.

“I can too! I’ll show you!” 

“Oh really? When?” Kageyama looks at the smaller man with a raised eyebrow and scoffs.

“Tomorrow! What’s your number? We’ll figure out when and where to meet and I’ll show you that I can spike!” Hinata’s shaking with either excitement or anger or both - Yamaguchi can’t tell.

“I’ll write it on your cup! What do you wanna order?” 

“Uhm.... ARGH! I’ll just have the milk! Jeez!” Hinata finally gives in. Yamaguchi is almost certain Hinata came here to get a coffee but he guesses the shorter man changed his mind. Hinata pays for his milk.

“There!” Kageyama hands the cup of milk to Hinata, his name and number written on the side of it with black marker. 

“Thank you!” Hinata says scowling. “Do you want anything, Yamaguchi?” The freckled man shakes his head. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow, Kageyama! I’ll bring the volleyball!” 

“See you there, idiot!” The black haired employee calls back as they walk out of the coffee shop.

Well that was... strange. Yamaguchi knows Hinata is the type to get competitive, but did he just get a guys number out of that?

“So... what are you gonna wear on your date with Kageyama tomorrow?” Yamaguchi teases him as they walk down the street. Hinata almost chokes on his milk.

“Date? With that douche?! No way! I’m just gonna show him how awesome I am at volleyball!” Hinata’s face flushes red. The freckled man laughs.

“Yeah, okay.” Yamaguchi rolls his eyes and smirks.

“I swear!” The orange haired man jumps up and down. 

***

Yamaguchi and Hinata stand in the dressing room alone during intermission. Kenma and Akaashi are out eating with the girls while Hinata is trying his best to fix his hair and Yamaguchi is looking at his makeup to see if he needs to touch up on anything. He contemplates on whether or not to tell him about Tsukishima’s attendance last night. 

He doesn’t really want to say anything but he’s so stressed out for tomorrow and he really needs to tell someone about it. He doesn’t know how Tsukishima will react, or if he even knows it was Yamaguchi. Should he act like nothing happened? Has Tsukishima already started rumors? 

The freckled man holds his head in his hands and sighs.

“Are you okay?” Hinata says, looking through his mirror to look at Yamaguchi. Their vanities are opposite of each other. Kenma’s vanity is next to Hinata’s while Akaashi’s is next to Yamaguchi’s.

“No...” the freckled man answers honestly. 

“What’s the matter?” Hinata turns around to face him.

“... Someone came last night... someone I know...” 

“Someone you know? Who was it?” Hinata seems panicked. He also knows what it’s like to keep this secret. He doesn’t want his family or baby sister to find out he also works at a place like this. 

“It was the guy from the music class that my dance class is doing a final with. We are partners. I just didn’t really expect him to come here since he’s so uptight.” Yamaguchi says, remembering how he ‘only likes to write classical music’.

“Are you sure it was him?” Hinata is frozen in shock and the freckled man nods.

“Yeah, it was him. I laid down at his table and we saw each other face to face.” He sighs heavily. “It was horrifying.” 

“What... what are you gonna do?” 

“I don’t know. I don’t know if he’s gonna tell everyone or just act like it never happened. I really don’t want to transfer schools because of some stupid rumor about me working in a brothel or a whore house. I just wanted somewhere to dance. I don’t know him too well so I can’t say if he’ll tell anyone or not. I’ve been mulling it over in my head since yesterday and every time I think about how he could destroy my life, it makes me want to vomit.” Yamaguchi wraps his arms around his stomach. Hinata rubs Yamaguchi’s back.

“Has he contacted you?” 

“No, not yet.” 

“Then maybe he doesn’t realize it’s you! Maybe he was just surprised that a dancer was laying on the table you know?” Hinata perks up. Yamaguchi was almost certain that wasn’t the case.

“I don’t know. I just don’t know how to act when I see him tomorrow.”

“Just pretend like nothing happened. Maybe he’ll keep his mouth shut?” Hinata tries to offer, but it sounds like even he’s not sure of his own advice. Even so, it’s the best thing Yamaguchi can do right now.

“I guess I’ll try that.” Yamaguchi doesn’t have any other options. He could ask Tsukishima about it first but he doesn’t want to make it even more awkward that it already is, and what if the blond really didn’t recognize him? Then Yamaguchi would just be outing himself for no reason.

Sighing again, Yamaguchi smooths out his shirt to get ready for the next set.


	7. Monday Anxiety

Tsukishima stares at the floor of the employee lounge on Monday morning. He’s sitting on the bench, motionless, deep in thought. 

Yamaguchi didn’t come in to the cafe this morning and it was racking his brain.

Memories of Saturday night flash through his mind. The images of the dim lights of the cabaret illuminating Yamaguchi’s toned legs on full display as he lays down at their table and the curvature of his back as he arched upwards flood his mind. Yamaguchi was wearing almost nothing to hide his groin and the blond could remember how his lower stomach heated up at the sight. Tsukishima’s eyes ate up every part of the freckled man’s body that night. He recalls how the moment he stepped to his apartment that night, he shoved his hands into his pants to relieve himself - something he hasn’t done in a long time.

Embarrassed about thinking of these things at work, he shakes his head to try and take himself out of his trance. With a sigh, he stands up to change out of his uniform.

He’d never imagine Yamaguchi to be working in a place like that. It’s kind of disgusting if he thinks about it. Wearing those skimpy clothes and showing your body off to everyone while sensually dancing. It makes Tsukishima cringe, but his heart race at the same time. He hates it, but he can’t help but want to go back and watch more. He blames it on hormones and his libido. There’s no way he can actually like this kind of stuff - Saturday was just a fluke.

The blond recalls the outfit Yamaguchi wore. It was almost nothing. He wondered how the freckled man would look completely bare, under him with his back arched like it was on Saturday. He can feel his face heat up and his lower stomach tingle. He tries to think about something else, anything else. He starts to hum arpeggios in his head to distract himself. It’s working but just barely. 

Tsukishima catches his bus and tries to focus on the music coming through his headphones.

If Yamaguchi wears such little clothing in front of a whole crowd, he wonders what he’s like in private. Does he get off on this sort of stuff? Is he sleeping around? Tsukishima shakes his head. He hasn’t known Yamaguchi for long, but he doesn’t think he’s the type to do such a thing. Although, a few days ago Tsukishima didn’t think he’d be the type to dance at a cabaret. It’s not like he can just go up and ask Yamaguchi these things.

That’s when he remembers that he’s seeing Yamaguchi today for their project. 

A wave of panic fills his mind.

How should he act? Should he pretend he doesn’t know anything? Should he ask questions? Should he tell everyone about it so people don’t get involved with him?

The blond takes a few deep breaths as he tries to calm himself down. He doesn’t care about what other people do with their lives, right? So why should he get involved here? He should just stay out of it and act like he saw nothing at the cabaret.

Tsukishima gets to campus early, so he sits on a picnic table and opens up his computer to continue working on his music project. Even though his mind has basically been clouded with Yamaguchi and the way he looked that night, Tsukishima learned a lot about how to write jazz music that someone could dance to. Although, he hasn’t written much and he’s not very proud of it so he starts to play around with it before his math class begins.

“Blondie!” Kuroo slings his arm around Tsukishima’s shoulders, making him jump in surprise. 

“What is it?” Tsukishima asks, furrowing his eyebrows. He doesn’t even take off his headphones, just slightly pushes one side off his ear.

“So... Bokuto and I were talking the other day. And we were thinking-“

“You two can think?” Tsukishima jabs. 

“We were thinking that we should start going to the cabaret every week!” Kuroo smiles brightly as Tsukishima’s face turns to horror.

“Every week? Why?” He asks frantically.

“Cause it was fun! Don’t you think?” Kuroo places his backpack down and plops down next to Tsukishima, his arm still around his shoulders.

“Well, you can go. I don’t want to.” Tsukishima retorts, peeling the black haired man’s arm away off of him. The blond knows that he wants to go back and watch Yamaguchi’s performance, but he doesn’t want to admit it. He’d rather just stay out of people’s business.

“Aw come on! Don’t be like that! You don’t do anything anyway! And the cabaret wasn’t even that much money to get in! And the food was pretty good too!” Kuroo adds. “Plus, the dancers didn’t look half bad.” 

Tsukishima’s heart skips a beat. 

Bokuto comes running up to the table with only a notebook in his hand. He sits down across from Tsukishima and Kuroo with a bright smile.

“What’s up!” 

“I was just telling Tsukishima about how we are all going to go to the cabaret again this Saturday.” 

“I’m not going!” Tsukishima bites back. His chest feels incredibly tight and he has a pit in his stomach.

“Tsukki you gotta come with us! It’s not like you’re doing anything anyway!” Bokuto pleads.

“That’s what I said!”

“I already said, no.” Tsukishima glares at Kuroo. The black haired man responds by giving him a small smirk.

“But Tsukki... I’ve fallen in love.” The blond and the black haired man whip their heads to Bokuto, displaying two very different expressions. 

“In love?!” Kuroo asks, his eyes sparkling and his mouth upturned in the biggest smile.

“In love?” Tsukishima questions, his face scrunched up and disgruntled.

The two toned haired man nods. 

“I fell in love with one of the dancers. Beau.” 

“Beau?” Tsukishima tries to think but he honestly can’t recall any other dancers except for Yamaguchi.

“He was the extremely pretty dancer with black hair! He had really long eyelashes and his skin was so smooth.” Bokuto recounts, his eyes glowing like they did when he talks about volleyball. 

“Wait, wait, wait. ‘He’? When did this happen?” Kuroo asks, pretending to feel betrayed. “I thought we told each other everything! You are my Boku-bro. How come you didn’t tell me you’re into guys?”

“Because I just found out that night! Beau is absolutely gorgeous. He’s all I can think about! We have to go back!” Bokuto slams his hands on the picnic table, causing it to shake slightly. Kuroo chuckles.

“Now that I think about it, there was a dancer that caught my eye too. His name was Kitty, I believe.” The black haired man smirks, thinking to himself. 

“You see, Tsukki? That’s why we need to go!” Bokuto begs.

“I just don’t understand why I would need to go if it’s only you two who are interested in seeing the dancers again.” Tsukishima turns his attention back to his computer but he can’t focus on it.

“Oh come on. You’re saying you didn’t like any of the dancers? Are you sure none of them were to your liking?” Kuroo teases the blond, expecting him to yell at him, but Tsukishima remained silent and the other two men could see his ears growing red. 

They gasp and almost jump up.

“No way!”

“Really?!”

“Shut up!” The blond shouts. He’s embarrassed so he gives into their peer pressure. “Fine! I’ll go with you but only because I need more material for my music project.”

“Uh-huh. Sure.” The two men smirk at Tsukishima.

“Ugh. Let’s just get to class.” Tsukishima says as he shuts his computer.

***

The day feels like it’s going too quick. Yamaguchi’s leg shakes up and down as he sits in the library trying his best to study for his history test. He’s been on edge all day, wondering what Tsukishima will say to him. He didn’t even go to the coffee shop this morning to avoid him at all costs. But now, he can’t avoid him. 

He checks the time and sees that it’s 3:40 pm. His shaking hands put away his textbook and zip up his bag. The freckled man tries to calm down his heart beat as he sprints to his dance class to the music room. 

He opens the doors to see only a few people there and none of them are Tsukishima. With a relieved sigh, he sets his backpack down and starts to stretch. 

He starts off by sliding into a middle split and reaching forward. It’s a little difficult at first since he’s in jeans and a sweatshirt, but it’s not impossible. He leans from side to side before rolling into a side split. The knots in his stomach tie tighter as people walk through the door. 

Yamaguchi lets out a strained sigh before switching to a butterfly stretch. His knees touch the floor as he bends over to graze his nose up against the floor. 

The sound of the door opens and shuts. He’s here. Yamaguchi doesn’t look up though. He holds his stretch.

Slow footsteps gradually creep closer to him. The screeching of a chair echos throughout the room and the thump of a bag hits the floor. 

Yamaguchi takes a few deep breaths before slowly lifting his body up and turning towards the blond man. 

Luckily, Tsukishima isn’t paying him any attention. He’s on his computer, touching the screen, pressing buttons and listening to something with his headphones plugged in.

He looks up at the freckled man and pushes one side off his ear.

“Oh, are you finished? I’ve been working on a song and I think I’ve got something.” Tsukishima nonchalantly states. Reluctantly, Yamaguchi stands up and takes a seat next to his partner. 

Tsukishima describes the song a bit, warning him that it isn’t finished yet and that he can change whatever. He then takes off his headphones and places them on the freckled man’s ears before playing the song.

It’s gorgeous! Yamaguchi instantly falls in love with the song. Listening it for a second time, he starts to think of choreography that would go along with it. Inspiration hits and his mind is flooded with ideas. 

The dancer searched through his bag for his notebook and a pencil before jotting down ideas.

The two talk back and forth about ideas with changing the music and choreography. They tweak the music and Yamaguchi performs some dance moves along with it to test it out. 

They work tirelessly throughout the entire period and don’t even realize how much they’ve gotten done until Takeda tells the class to pack up.

“We got a lot done today! I’m glad!” Yamaguchi smiles and starts to pack his bag, facing away from the blond. He scrunches up his face in nervousness as soon as his back is turned. How did they speak so casually today?! He has to confront him about Saturday sooner or later.

With his heart pounding in his chest and a deep breath, the freckled man turns to Tsukishima.

“Tsukki... look, about Saturday night... I just wanted to ask you if you could keep it a secret?” He fidgets with his fingertips, nervously looking at the taller man.

“Oh, yeah... sure. I don’t really care what you do in your free time. It’s none of my business.” He says, pushing up his glasses. His face looks unbothered by the face that Yamaguchi dances at a night club.

“Oh my gosh! Really? Thank you so much.” Yamaguchi lets out a heavy sigh in relief. He can relax now.

“Yeah, so, you don’t have to avoid the coffee shop anymore.” Tsukishima turns away in embarrassment. Why did he even mention that?! He shouldn’t have said anything.

“Okay!” The freckled man beams with a bright smile. “I gotta go! It’s work time! See you later, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi waves goodbye before rushing out the music room doors.

Tsukishima’s thinks his chest feels weird, so he gives it a few smacks before shaking his head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hopefully no spelling mistakes or grammatical errors! Comments and Kudos are appreciated:)


	8. Backstage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hinata makes some new friends...

During Saturday’s joint class between the music class and the dance class, Yamaguchi and Tsukishima made a lot of progress in their project. They finally finished the song and Yamaguchi is now working on the dance. Tsukishima doesn’t know a lick about dancing so he lets Yamaguchi take the lead. He only pretends he’s doing something when Takeda or Saeko come around to check on them.

Yamaguchi goes between dancing, writing something down, dancing a again, and then scratching something out. Tsukishima admires his hard work. He can tell that his passion for dance is just as strong if not stronger than Tsukishima’s passion for music.

The awkwardness between them faded throughout the week with sparing texts and Yamaguchi coming into the coffee shop every morning for his espresso. Yamaguchi is still a little anxious knowing that Tsukishima could expose him at any moment, but he’s come to trust his indifference to it. He seems so unbothered by the fact he works in a cabaret which isn’t the reaction he was expecting at all.

In reality, Tsukishima is absolutely freaking out inside whenever he’s with Yamaguchi. His heart rate picks up, he can feel his face grow hotter, and a spark of electricity jolts through him whenever they touch. It’s absolutely disgusting to him. He just wants to get the project done and over with so he doesn’t have to deal with these obnoxious feelings anymore.

The professors remind them that they also need to write a progress report and the entire class groans.

***

Later that night, four male dancers sit in a comfortable silence in the cramped dressing room. Hinata and Yamaguchi are applying their makeup while Kenma plays a video game on his PSP and Akaashi gets dressed.

A ping comes from Hinata’s phone and the orange haired man leans over to check it. His eyebrows raise and his mouth splits into a wide smile.

“Oh yeah!” He says to himself then turns to speak to the three other men. “Hey guys! Don’t freak out but, I invited some friends backstage before the show!” Hinata beams as he finishes filling in his eyebrows.

“Ugh, again?” Kenma says, buried in his video game. His black hoodie is over his head and he has on his usual red basketball shorts.

“It’s not the perverts from last time! I promise! I dropped those guys, don’t worry. I even wrote a sign on the door so perverts will know to stay clear!” Hinata sticks his tongue out as he closes the lid to the eyebrow pencil.

“It better not be. They tried to grope me and Akaashi.” Kenma and Akaashi shiver in disgust. Akaashi shakes off his grimace as he buttons up his white shirt and tucks it into his black slacks.

Yamaguchi remembers when Hinata invited his friends from his old high school. At first they were fine, a little creepy but fine. The real trouble started when they decided that it was a good idea to grope Kenma and Akaashi. Of course, those two don’t take shit and beat the living fuck out of them backstage. Hinata apologized to Kenma and Akaashi and cut all contact from the perverts. He made a joke out of it by writing the silly little sign on the front of the storage/dressing room: “No Perverts Allowed”.

“Honestly it’s not! It’s a new friend! I met him in my sports education class and he’s bringing along two friends. They go to the same school as us! I think you’ll like them!” Hinata says.

Yamaguchi feels a sharp tightening in his chest.

“They go to the same school as us?” He asks, a little weary.

“Oh, yeah but they’ve sworn to secrecy! I promise they’ll keep their mouths shut about this! They really like our performances and actually want to start becoming regulars!” Hinata gives them a sweet smile. The three men look at him and realize they can’t say no to anything Hinata says when he flashes them that smile.

“If you say so. I’ll trust you, but only because it’s you Hinata.” Yamaguchi says with a sigh, praying that these guys won’t tell a soul. If Hinata says they are good guys, then they most likely are, especially if they want to start becoming regulars.

Kenma changes out of his comfortable clothes into his opening number outfit which is just a red button up shirt and black slacks. He slips on his cozy cat paw socks to keep his feet warm before the performance.

Yamaguchi blots his lip stain as he steals a glance at Hinata applying his blush.

“So, Hinata... how was your date the other day?” Yamaguchi smiles slyly. Hinata’s face flushes red.

“A date?!” Kenma’s eyes blow wide in shock and he furrows his brow at Hinata. “Why wasn’t I told you were on a date?”

“It wasn’t a date! I swear! All we did was play volleyball together! We practiced some spikes and I showed him how high I can jump!” Hinata tries to avoid Kenma’s deathly glare.

“That’s it?” Yamaguchi seems unconvinced.

“Well... we got something to eat afterwards and talked for a few hours.” Hinata trails off.

“That sounds like a date to me!” Yamaguchi says as he buttons up his navy blue shirt.

“Are you going to meet up with him again?” Akaashi asks, looking up from his manga.

“Maybe! I don’t know. He was such an ass, but at the same time he’s so gosh darn good looking. It’s like he’s mean nice, you know what I mean? When someone is nice to you but tries to play it off as if they are being mean to you?” Hinata holds his cheeks in his hands. “And he’s so tall and his shoulders are so broad. Oh my goodness and his hands. You should’ve seen them. God.”

“Okay, calm down there Hinata! Don’t get a hard on before the show.” Yamaguchi teases. Hinata flushes again before yelling at him. The taller man chuckles and pushes him away to add some finishing touches to his makeup.

“Shoyo.”

Hinata turns to Kenma who has a serious look on his face.

“Yeah Kenma?”

Kenma places a hand on Hinata’s shoulder.

“If that guy does anything to you, tell me right away.” Kenma gives Hinata’s shoulder a light squeeze. The orange haired man laughs off his serious nature.

“I’ll be fine Kenma. But thank you!”

Another ping comes from Hinatas phone on his vanity. The oranges haired man leans over to look at the notification and his face brightens.

“They’re here!”

Hinata opens the dressing room door and Yamaguchi hears him yell “Bokuto!” Down the hallway.

‘Bokuto’... that name sounds familiar to him for some reason.

Hinata walks back into the dressing room and slightly opens the door.

“Hey guys! These are Bokuto, Kuroo, and... what was your name again?”

“Tsukishima.”

Yamaguchi practically gets whiplash from how hard he turned his head around. There, standing in the doorway, is the tall blond with two other men. Tsukishima is avoiding eye contact with him.

“And this is Kenma, Akaashi, and Yamaguchi.” Hinata introduces the dancers to the men. Yamaguchi shuts his agape mouth and gulps.

“Oh wow! It’s so much smaller in here than I imagined!” Bokuto blurts out. The black haired man smacks him over the head and tells him to shut up.

Oh yeah. Bokuto. Yamaguchi remembers him. He’s one of Tsukishima’s friends.

“Oh hey! I know you! We met that one time at school!” Bokuto says turning to Yamaguchi. The freckled man’s face is in pure terror.

“Oh don’t worry! Hinata made us swear to secrecy! We won’t tell anyone that you guys work here! We aren’t those types of guys.” Kuroo says, looking at everyone in the room but his eyes linger on Kenma.

A small wave of relief flows over Yamaguchi. His mind is still racing about why Tsukishima came back to the club and is now standing in the dressing room.

He thought the blond man didn’t care what he did with his free time? So what is he doing here?

“So.... your name is Kenma.” The black haired man saunters over to Kenma, who’s face is buried in his game. Kenma, surprisingly, looks up from his PSP to look at Kuroo’s face.

“Yeah.” Was all he said. Yamaguchi and Hinata turn to look at each other with wide eyes. Kenma doesn’t look up at anyone, barely even Hinata. The orange haired man smiles goes to whisper soemthing in Yamaguchi’s ear.

“What major are you in?” Kuroo says, leaning on his vanity. The other men are talking amongst themselves, now ignoring the two in the corner.

“Business.” Kenma answers softly, he glances between the handsome man and his game. He’s running around aimlessly in his game because of how nervous he is.

“Hey me too! Why haven’t I seen you around? What classes are you in? I’m in Kruger’s class.”

“Me too.” Kenma brushes his hair behind his ears which makes Kuroo’s heart skip. He’s probably the most adorable person he’s ever seen.

“Really?! The one at 1:30?” Kenma nods. “Woah! Why haven’t I noticed you?”

“I usually sit in the back.” Kenna manages to get out. He’s still talking at a low level and trying his best to not make eye contact with him.

“I’ll find you then! And we can sit together!”

Kenma gulps. His heart is racing at a million miles per minute. He’d rather not make any new friends, but he can’t help but accept the handsome man’s offer. He nods with a slight blush on his face.

“Awesome! So what game are you playing?”

As Kenma goes into talking extensively about his video game - the only topic he’ll ramble about - Bokuto and Hinata are chattering about sports education. Bokuto steals glances at Akaashi across the room who is reading a manga, unbothered. A blush spreads across Bokuto’s face whenever he looks at Akaashi’s handsome face, but he’s too nervous to try and talk to him. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi sit in an awkward silence, with only a few words from Yamaguchi now and then in Hinata and Bokuto’s conversation.

Tsukishima doesn’t seem like he’s spacing out, but he also isn’t responding or reacting to the conversation at all.

With enough convincing (from himself), Yamaguchi turns to him and speaks quietly.

“What are you doing here?” The freckled man says without any malice. He was honestly confused why Tsukishima showed up at the cabaret again after telling him he doesn’t care what he does in his free time.

“I’m sorry. I was dragged along.” The blond says with a slight tone of guilt. Hinata catches a few words of their conversation and joins in.

“You two know each other?” Hinata tilts his head.

“Yeah, we are working on a project together for our final.” Tsukishima says nonchalantly. Yamaguchi widens his eyes and raises his eyebrows at the oranged haired man as if he’s giving him a signal. Hinata’s face first scrunches up in confusion then blows wide open with realization.

“OH!” Hinata gasps when he puts two and two together. Everyone in the room turns to him in surprise(except for Yamaguchi). “Oh sorry!” Hinata nervously giggles. “I just... uhhh I forgot that I have homework due today for my sports education class.”

“WE HAVE HOMEWORK?!” Bokuto yells and grabs his hair. “Nooooo! I really wanted to watch the show today!!!”

“We can do it together!” Hinata says happily and the two men burst out in smiles. They’ve become very close very quickly. It’s strange but also admirable how both Bokuto and Hinata can make friends with seemingly anyone.

“Hinata, you never do homework by yourself. You always ask Oikawa for help anyways.” Akaashi says. It’s true. Before taking over the cabaret, Oikawa was in sports education at the college they currently attend so he intermittently helps Hinata with homework.

“Then Oikawa can helps us!” Hinata stands up and runs out the door. “Tooru!!!”

“Who’s Oikawa?” Kuroo asks, tilting his head.

“He’s the owner. You’ve seen him on stage introducing the acts before they go on.” Akaashi says, flipping the page in his manga.

“Oh, the really handsome one?” Kuroo asks. Kenma nervously glances at him as if he’s confirmed something in his head.

“I guess.” Akaashi says, nonchalantly turning back to his manga.

Hinata eventually comes back with Oikawa in his arm. The owner introduces himself and scolds Bokuto and Hinata for not doing their homework soon enough but helps them anyways.

“The show is about to start soon.” Oikawa says, looking down at his watch. Hinata’s vanity is covered in lined paper with scribbles of words all over them.

“But we still need help with homework!” Hinata says, giving Oikawa puppy dog eyes.

“Well, you guys can stay backstage and I can help you a little, but the rest of your friends are going to have to leave.” Oikawa says, looking at Tsukishima who’s been scrolling on his phone for the past few minutes and Kuroo who’s been watching Kenma play his video game.

Tsukishima leaves almost immediately. Kuroo smiles and says goodbye to the group before leaning over to Bokuto and whisper something in his ear. Bokuto blushes a bit and nods. His black haired friend laughs, smacks his back, and says he’ll see him later.

Hinata turns around to Yamaguchi and mouths “I’m so sorry” with a horrified expression. The freckled man waves his hand as a sign of forgiveness.

***

The stage lights shine in Yamaguchi’s eyes. They are almost blinding, but by this point, he’s completely numb to them. The change in color and brightness to give the stage full of dancers more movement for the final number.

He’s sweating profusely. Partly because he’s been dancing all day, party because the lights are heating up the room, and partly because Tsukishima is on the front table, watching his every movement.

Their eyes meet for what seems like the 8 hundred time of the night. Yamaguchi looks away as quick as possible to side aerial to his next position, but he can feel Tsukishima eyes burn into his back.

Kenma grabs one of the girls and spins her around before handing her off to Yamaguchi, whose hands ghost her hips as she jumps. They share a look and a smile. As Yamaguchi goes to get into place for the end, Akaashi stops the girl and kneels to kiss her hand. He walks off as Hinata jumps in and gives the girl a flower. She pretends to smell it before ruffling Hinata’s hair.

She turns to the crowd and sings as everyone behind her swing each other around, perform aerials or backflips, or spins as long as they can.

She then finishes the song with a loud and beautiful belt and throws the flower into the crowd.

When the music stops, everyone lands in the same position and holds it.

The crowd stands up and cheers, loud whistling and comments about some people’s bodies were shouted. Yamaguchi meets eyes with Tsukishima again, right before the lights go to blackout.

The dancers rush off of the stage and Hinata pushes Yamaguchi’s back until they reach the dressing room.

“Come on, come on! We gotta get ready! We’re going out to eat with Bokuto, Kuroo, and that other guy!”

“I don’t remember agreeing to that!” Yamaguchi says as they fall into the dressing room.

“Oh come on! It’ll be fun! Plus, I wanna help Kuroo and Kenma, and Bokuto and Akaashi get together! Those two haven’t had dick in what seems like forever!” Hinata laughs loudly. “I need your help in case anything goes wrong! Plus I don’t want to talk to grumpy glasses by myself all night.”

Yamaguchi sighs. It’s not like he’s doing anything tomorrow, but he’s not super thrilled going out to eat so late at night with two strangers and the guy he’s doing a project with. But if it’s for his friends...

“Don’t give me that face, Hinata.” Yamaguchi grimaces.

“What face?” Hinata feigns, giving the freckled man his watery puppy eyes and soft pout.

“Ugh fine. I’ll go.”

“YES!”

“But only because I want my friends to be happy!”

Akaashi and Kenma push open the door, waving goodbye to some of the girls outside. When they turn their bodies into the dressing room, they’re both taken aback by Hinata leaning into them with a bright smile.

“Akaashi! Kenma! Let’s go out to eat!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading and I hope there’s no grammatical errors or spelling mistakes! 
> 
> Sorry my chapter updates take so long! I don’t want to rush them bc I really want to think about where I’m going with the story! I have a basic outline but now I just gotta think of filler!
> 
> I love to read your comments and Kudos are appreciated!


	9. Music Note Freckles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Feelings?!?!

With a bunch of convincing (and some bribing with free food), Kenma and Akaashi begrudgingly agreed to go out and eat with Hinata’s new friends. The orange haired man jumped in excitement as the rest of them changed into their casual clothing. They wipe off their makeup with a few makeup wipes. Yamaguchi’s make up doesn’t wipe off all the way but he’s used to it, so he doesn’t mind looking a bit messy.

They cram into Hinata’s RAV4 while the other group takes Kuroo’s car, which looks to be a black 2018 Mazda3. 

Kuroo waves over and yells, “We’ll see you guys there!”

He hops into the drivers seat, next to Bokuto who sports a goof grin while Tsukishima mindlessly looks at his phone in the back seat. Yamaguchi thinks it looks fitting. 

The restaurant they decided to go to was mainly a bar with a few tables off to the side. 

There’s a reasonable amount of people in the bar, seeing as it’s a Saturday night. They find a table to sit at and take their seats.

Kenma is sitting between Hinata and Kuroo, looking especially nervous and glances at Hinata for reassurance. Bokuto sits next to Kuroo and on the other side of him sits Akaashi. On the other side of Akaashi sits Tsukishima, who doesn’t seem to care much about conversation. That leaves Yamaguchi in between Hinata and Tsukishima.

The menu seems to have your typical bar food on it. Burgers, fries, wings, and nachos catch Yamaguchi’s eyes. 

Hinata, Kuroo, and Bokuto have a nice flowing conversation, with some points coming from Akaashi. Yamaguchi wouldn’t say Akaashi is shy, just a little more reserved than others. Kenma on the other hand is practically hiding behind his menu. Yamaguchi feels sorry for him because he’s right in the middle of everyone’s conversation. 

Tsukishima is... on his phone. Kuroo and Bokuto try to get him to talk by asking him his input but the blond just grunts or gives short, snappy answers. 

“Woah, wait! The last time you invited people backstage they groped you guys?! Are you kidding me?! No wonder you guys were so stand-off-ish when we came in!” Kuroo expresses, shaken to his core.

“That’s so gross! Are you guys okay?” Bokuto asks, looking over at Akaashi, who blushes at the eye contact. 

“We’re fine. It was a while ago.” Akaashi answers, trying to cover up his heated face with his hand.

Kuroo flags down the waiter.

“You guys can order whatever you want. I’m paying.” Kuroo says. 

“No, no, you don’t have to!” Yamaguchi says, waving him off.

“Nope! I insist! You guys did amazing today! I want to show you my gratitude for giving us a good show!” 

The waiter takes everyone’s drink orders. Hinata goes to order alcohol but Kenma reminds him that he’s driving later. The orange haired man pouts and resentfully orders a water. Kuroo does the same, seeing as he’s also driving later.

“Okay, and will you have anything to eat?” The waiter asks, writing down Bokuto’s drink order.

“Could I have some fries? Soggy ones if you could!” Yamaguchi asks with sparkles in his eyes. 

As the waiter turns to take other people’s orders, Tsukishima leans over.

“Soggy fries?” He asks in a jokingly judging tone. 

“Hey! They’re the best that way! Soggy fries are my favorite food! If I could, I’d eat them every day for every meal!”

Tsukishima stifles his laugh.

“That sounds gross.”

“Oh yeah? Okay what’s your favorite food then, Tsukki?” 

Tsukishima rolls his eyes at his nickname. He’s about to answer but then pauses. 

“What is it?” 

“It’s... well...”

“What? It can’t be worse than soggy fries.” Yamaguchi says, leaning in closer to the blond.

“S-Strawberry... shortcake...” Embarrassed, Tsukishima tries to cover his face with his hand and looks away from the freckled man.

Yamaguchi tries to stifle his laugh.

“Thats not the answer I expected out of you at all! It’s so cute... for a jerk.” Yamaguchi jokingly says, placing his face into his hand, while grinning at Tsukishima. 

The blond’s heart skips a beat. Yamaguchi thinks he’s cute. And the face he’s making right now is adorable. Tsukishima just wants to take his puffy cheeks in his hands and-

“Here are your drinks!” The waiter’s arm thrusts forward in between Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to place down their drinks. It takes Tsukishima out of his day dream and he resumes to looking at his phone. He pulls his scarf up to hide his face a bit.

“So how long have you guys been working there?” Kuroo asks as he takes a sip of his water. 

“I’ve been working there for almost a year now? I love it!” Yamaguchi replies quickly with a sweet smile.

“It’s been about a year and a half for me.” Akaashi says, sipping his fruity cocktail through a straw.

“I’ve worked there since I was 16 and I’m 20 now so that’s...”

“Four years, Hinata.” Akaashi interjects.

“Thanks Akaashi!” 

“They let you dance there at 16?!” Kuroo seems shocked. “How could they let such an innocent boy do those sexual grinding dances on stage?!”

Hinata laughs loudly and slaps his thigh. “Oh no! I was busboy when I worked there at 16! The most I did was clean dishes and mop the floor! I didn’t start dancing there until I was 18.” 

“What about you?” Bokuto asks turning towards Kenma. His hands are in his sleeves and he’s holding his soda between them. 

He looks up and Hinata who gives him a big smile, which is code for “I’m not gonna help you out on this one, I’m gonna make to talk to people”. Kenma hesitantly looks up at Kuroo but averts his eyes almost immediately. Looking at Kuroo’s handsome face makes him even more nervous. 

“About... two years...”

“Oh wow! Did you start off with dancing?” Kuroo asks, leaning in a bit.

“Y-yeah...” Kenma answers bashfully.

“How long have you all been dancing for?” Bokuto asks, looking straight at Akaashi. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima simultaneously stifle their laughs. This boy isn’t subtle at all.

“Uh, I’ve been dancing since high school. My mom put me in ballet because I wasn’t in any clubs.” Akaashi responds, a hint of a blush could be seen on his cheeks. He fidgets with his fingers out of habit.

“I’ve been dancing since middle school! I’m really into hip hop but when I saw Oikawa dance at the club, I fell in love with jazz!” Hinata sighs and stares off as if he’s recalling the scene. Yamaguchi giggles.

“I’ve been dancing for my entire life practically! I’ve always been in love with jazz so when Hinata introduced me to the Crow’s Den, how could I not join?!” Yamaguchi twirls the tips of his messy hair. 

“What about you Kenma?” Kuroo asks. 

“Only.... only since I started working at the club...” 

“What?! But you’re so... so limber! And so good at dancing?! How?!” 

“Kenma may have a shy appearance, but he’s got natural talent and is good at adapting!” Hinata compliments his friend proudly.

“I was in gymnastics up until high school so that’s the only reason why I can do that stuff. It’s not special...”

“Aw Kenma I was trying to praise you, dude!” The orange haired man whines.

The waiter finally comes back with everyone’s food and a wave of comfortable silence engulfs them as they eat.

***

Yamaguchi takes in a deep breath and he feels the cold autumn air prickle his cheeks. He hugs himself in an attempt to keep warm but he’s a little chilly. He’s only got on a long sleeve underneath his hoodie. It was practically boiling hot in the restaurant so he’s at least feeling a little relief from the cool night’s air. 

He turns around to look through the window of the restaurant and sees the others laughing at the table inside. Hinata leans over and tries Bokuto’s drink before scrunching up his face in disgust. Kuroo, Akaashi, and Bokuto laugh and Kenma actually cracks a smile. He seems a lot less nervous than he was earlier. 

Before Yamaguchi could even that two seats were empty and not just his one seat, Tsukishima opens the door and walks over to join him.

He’s all bundled up with his coat, beanie, and scarf. 

Yamaguchi greets him with a warm smile. “Hey Tsukki!” 

“You’re still calling me that?” Tsukishima rolls his eyes but gives him a half smile.

“Yep! I’ll annoy you with it until the end of time.” Yamaguchi hums, he rubs his hands up and down his arms.

“I could just blackmail you with the fact I know you work at the cabaret.” Tsukishima jokes, rocking back and forth on his heels.

“And I could blackmail you back because I know your favorite food is strawberry shortcake.” 

“Touché.” 

The two chuckle at their banter. Yamaguchi thought about how nice it was to talk to Tsukishima. He was scared to talk to him just a few days ago,but now he feels like their practically friends. 

“Too loud in there?” Yamaguchi asks looking back in. Bokuto looks like he’s ordering more drinks.

“Unfortunately. I can barely deal with the two dumbasses that already follow me around and now I have to deal with a third orange dumbass on top of that? It’s hell in there.” Tsukishima’s disgruntled face and attitude rises a chuckle out of the freckled man. 

A gust of wind blows past them and makes Yamaguchi shiver uncontrollably. 

“Did you only bring a hoodie with you?”

“Yeah. This is all I have.” Yamaguchi’s shoulders raise up to hug to his cold neck. His shivering comes to a halt when he’s surprised by something warm hitting his neck. 

He looks up to see Tsukishima, now with a bare neck, wrapping his warm scarf around Yamaguchi’s neck.

“But this is your-“

“It’s fine. You look like you fucking freezing, dumbass. I have a proper coat on so I’ll be fine.” Tsukishima says, fixing the scarf to stay perfectly wrapped around him. 

He’s so close to him right now. Yamaguchi already acknowledged Tsukishima was handsome but wow he’s so much more handsome up close. He can practically hear his heart in his ears with how quickly it’s beating.

Tsukishima does one final pull on the scarf and smiles before saying a soft “there.” Without stepping back, he unconsciously looks into Yamaguchi’s large eyes and suddenly realizes how close they’re standing. He’s never looked at Yamaguchi so close before. He’s so adorable. His eyes are practically shining and his red cheeks and nose from the cold air make him look precious.

“Your freckles...” Tsukishima hesitantly reaches up brush Yamaguchi’s hair out of his face to get a better look at his face. The freckled man gulps before responding.

“My... f-freckles?” 

“They’re... they’re like music notes.” Going up and down across his face, the pattern of his freckles reminds Tsukishima of one of his favorite songs to play on the piano. 

Yamaguchi didn’t know anymore if it was the cold cause his cheeks to burn or not. 

“Oh... Uhm...” Embarrassed, Yamaguchi couldn’t respond.

Tsukishima snaps back to reality and steps back. He turns his head away from him, rubbing the back of his own neck to soothe himself. He’s glad it’s cold so he can blame his blushing red cheeks on the wind. 

“I-“ 

“TSUKKI!” The two turn to see Bokuto swaying back and forth with his arm slung over Kuroo’s shoulders for support walking out of the restaurant. Kenma, Akaashi, and Hinata follow close behind. 

“TSUKKI!!!” Bokuto yells again. 

“What do you want Bokuto?” Tsukishima’s eyebrow twitches. 

“Why is it that you only laugh when freckled dude is around huh?! I thought we were your best friends!! Are you betraying us?!” Bokuto tears up and leans into Kuroo’s shoulder. 

“There there, buddy.” Kuroo says, patting his head.

“Bokuto, what are you talking about?” 

“Don’t play dead with me!” The large man yells.

“It’s ‘don’t act coy’ buddy-“ 

“You guys were talking and giggling at the table and I just saw you two laughing out here a minute ago! Do you hate me now?! I’m sorry I told Yamaguchi about your secret nickname! Please don’t hate me!” Bokuto wails and grabs onto Kuroo, almost tackling him. 

“Is he always like this?” Akaashi asks.

“Bokuto is... well he’s a sensitive guy. A gentle giant some might say. The drunker he gets, the more reassurance he needs.” Kuroo strains to say as he tries to support the crying man.

“Jesus Christ.” Tsukishima lets out a sigh. “Bokuto.” The large man sniffs and turns his big puppy eyes to Tsukishima. The blond grimaces before saying, “I... I don’t hate you.” 

Bokuto’s face immediately lights up. 

“You don’t?!”

“No. I don’t.”

“We’re best friends right?!” Bokuto asks with an excited face. Kuroo motions his head at Tsukishima to respond to Bokuto quickly. 

The blond takes in a deep breath before grimacing again and saying, “Yes. We are... best... friends.” 

As Bokuto gasps in happiness, Yamaguchi snickers. Tsukishima whips around to shoot him a glare and he half-heartedly tries to stifle it.

“I knew it!” Bokuto tears from Kuroo’s grasp and latches onto Tsukishima. 

“Oh god.” He groans, trying his best to support a man that probably weighs twice his weight in pure muscle. 

“Tonight was fun! We should do it again some time!” Hinata says with Kenma and Akaashi nodding in agreement.

“I agree! I’ll keep in contact with you guys! We’ll be back next Saturday!” Kuroo says with a smile and he flings Bokuto’s arms around Tsukishima and himself. “Let’s get him in the car.”

They are about to drag the large man away when Yamaguchi realizes he still had Tsukishima’s scarf.

“Oh, Tsukki! Your scarf!” He goes to take it off.

“It’s alright! You keep it! I have plenty at home!” Tsukishima says, trying not to blush. He makes eye contact with Kuroo who raises an eyebrow at him and smirks. Oh he is definitely gonna make fun of him for this. 

Yamaguchi smiles and snuggles into the warm scarf.

“Thanks, Tsukki.” 

“It’s not a big deal.” The two men drag Bokuto to Kuroo’s car and throw him into the back seat.

“Geez! What’s up his ass?” Hinata says, watching the two tall men hop into the front seats.

Yamaguchi couldn’t stop his face from smiling, so he hides in in the scarf. It smells like coffee and fabric softener.

***

Kuroo buckles himself in and turns on the car. He looks over to Tsukishima, who’s looking out the window, and smirks.

“Gave your crush your scarf, huh?” Kuroo says.

“Shut up.” Tsukishima mumbles.

“You didn’t deny it!” Kuroo singsongs as he drives away.

“Shut up!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait! I’m not that funny but hopefully you liked this chapter that I tried to make comedic! 
> 
> Hopefully there’s no spelling mistakes or grammatical errors! Kudos and Comments are appreciated:)


End file.
